Courtship of a Phoenix
by Second
Summary: One Last God Kubera Fanfic. "So you had two billion, eight hundred million years to fall in love and you just had to chose now. Good lord, Garuda, please don't tell me you steal Vinata's feathers and keep them in your pocket."
1. Of Nastikas and Nastika Level Rakshasas

A compilation of interconnected glimpses into how Garuda wooed (tricked) Vinata into being his queen. I'm way too obsessed with Suras and their background stories than I should be. The humans and magicians in the story are so less interesting. I am unfamiliar with the Hindu culture and its significant figures One Last God Kubera was loosely based on, so all OCs from the Garuda Clan have adopted bird related terms as their names.

This takes place some millions of years before the original plotline. Nastikas are ancient dinosaurs…

Disclaimer: There are many things in this world that do not belong to me. Kubera is one of them.

**S-C-N-D**

Courtship of a Phoenix

…

It was an image the Suras of the Garuda Clan would never forget: two of their strongest Nastikas face to face in complete Sura form. Enormous creatures, they both were. Almost equivalent in size and power, a flaming phoenix and a huge swan-like creature tangoed in space in a violent dance.

…

**Chapter One: Of Nastikas and Nastika-Level Rakshasas  
**_N0 - approx. 1500000 years_

_…_

A solitary man perched on top of a barren cliff, his snow white hair drifting in the wind like singled out strands of sleek thread. His wings, six humongous, beautiful structures crafted by the very hands of Visnu, all reclined at the same time. They left behind fluttering white feathers that drifted into the abyss to shower and grace whatever inferior Sura had the fortune to be flying underneath.

A feather from him was a sacred treasure, for there were few beings in this world that could parallel the greatness of the king of birds.

"Garuda!"

The snarl was followed by a second whoosh as another set of wings folded, reclined and disappeared into the feather coat of his follower. In a giant red-orange bird's stead now stood a tall, lean man, his hair falling just a little short of his waist and tanned abdomens. Had he morphed a second later, he would have crushed and flattened the mountain.

Garuda's bangs fluttered against his mask as he closed his eyes and sighed. The wind encircled him, bending to the will of the ruler of the sky. His back facing the scoundrel, he stated, "not a single day passes where you don't try to oust me from my throne. What do you want this time, Vinata?"

Second to his power in the great Garuda clan, Vinata stepped forward and boldy placed one intrusive hand on his shoulder, completely unfazed and unafraid of Garuda's presence. Regal Garuda, who never snarled or clawed, only shook off the grip before stepping forward resolutely. He refused to turn to chide his second-in-command for the millionth time. There were only so many childish antics one could take without turning a willful blind eye when one was unlucky enough to be in the same clan as Vinata.

He tilted his head to stare at the blue sky, unbothered by clouds as any other day, and wondered what in the world Visnu was thinking when he had created this clan. Most of the Nastikas were tolerable, respectable. Many even had children and grandchildren, empowering his army against Ananta and his sly clan of snakes. But Vinata? What had he done in the past universe to deserve this nuisance?

"Garuda, you snob, turn around when I'm talking to you."

"I do not take commands from one who is weaker than me."

Vinata was infuriated. Garuda could feel it from the rise of temperature in the air about him. That was another thing he never understood about Visnu's choices of names. Why had his mysterious friend given his second in command the power of fire of all things? Why couldn't Vinata be meek and pacifistic and have an Origin Attribute of Revival like Gandharva?

Not that Gandharva was meek. Or a pacifist.

The blazing cloud of heat suddenly dissipated. Curious to say the least, Garuda finally turned to see Vinata sitting, preening his wings and glaring at Garuda as if he was going to steal a feather for every second he took his eyes off him.

Grey eyes shut, eyelids barely grazing his skin. It wasn't safe for him to close his eyes too long around Vinata, for though all of his senses were sharp, who knew what the deviant could do with the most potent crippled? "You can let your guard down around me. I am your king. I will not hurt you."

A feral growl escaped Vinata's throat, causing him to snap his eyes open.

The man was now standing, one orange eyebrow twitching in irritation as he snarled, "it is exactly that kind of attitude that's the reason why Ananta is the strongest Sura."

"Then are you saying you would like me to be the strongest?"

He was stumped for a split second, body drawn back, an arm held up cautiously in front of him as if Garuda had just renounced his throne to a Rakshasa.

"I was kidding," said Garuda with a straight face, waving a dismissive hand into the air. "Ananta might be the strongest Sura, but our clan has a natural advantage over his. When Visnu created the Nastikas, he made sure all power was balanced."

"I don't need your reassurance!" snapped Vinata. "As if you would ever speak Visnu's name in dishonour! You and him and Gandharva and Shuri… Always together."

"Our alliance was created two billion years ago. If you disapproved of it, you could have said so."

Garuda's eyes stared steadily into Vinata's. Even now he carried a flawless poker face, irking the red man to no end. Vinata could never understand the king he was forced to subordinate to; Garuda was so calm, so righteous. Even when he fought the gods, he wore a face not unlike Kubera's—always silent, unmoving, stony.

As if there were no dimensions to him at all.

He hit his forehead with a hand. "Gah. I don't know how our clan is the third strongest with you in charge. No wonder you've never had any Rakshasa children, Garuda. It's been what? Two billion, eight hundred million years since the creation of the universe now?" he mused, stretching and yawning. "Honestly, it feels like I've wasted most of my life kicking Chandra to the underworld over and over."

Garuda dismissed his comment about the gods. "The only Nastikas of the eight clan leaders who've had children are Asura and Yaksha. The rest of us do not because we know they will be an easy target for the gods and Nastikas of rival clans. May I remind you that you have not had any children either?"

In the midst of his stretch, Vinata stopped and opened his sharp red eyes. He calculatingly stroked one finger along his left cheek, down to his chin, below the grinning lips that encaged rows and rows of deadly teeth. "Well, Rakshasas are _weak_. Why would I have children if I know that they're just going to die before me? Kalavinka's sons and daughters have all perished. So have Avifauna's. If I ever have a kid, he'd better be a Nastika-level Rakshasa."

Vinata's eyes glowed as he said this with a smile that unnerved Garuda to an extent. If Vinata ever had children… He pictured the red-orange bird encompassed by an army of red-orange Rakshasas, all with fire attributes, Vinata's temper and other distinct characteristics depending on who mothered them. It must have been an entertaining pastime of his to imagine how large an army he could create before Garuda surrendered his position of king. Given all this time since the creation of the universe, it was amazing he hadn't tried by now.

But Garuda somewhat understood why. Vinata talked of creating this Nastika-level Rakshasa, which could only be possible with one of the eight great clan leaders and maybe their second in commands. The third strongest Garuda Nastika was inferior to he and Vinata by a large margin. This dream of Vinata's would never be fulfilled, not unless he was willing to become a woman and mate with Garuda.

Vinata hated Garuda.

With a swish, he turned and walked to the edge of the cliff. Vinata followed close behind, but before he could reach Garuda, the king drew out his six magnificent wings. Garuda never flared them but they of such great size that when he stretched them out fully, they reached well past Vinata and caused the man to jump a step back.

Seeing this as a challenge, Vinata drew out his own wings, a magnificent pair of golden-red that was beautiful enough to rival Garuda's.

"You're leaving already, almighty king?" he mocked.

"Gandharva invited me for dinner," he replied, flashing one of his rare smiles that included a small twinkle in his left eye. "Snake," Garuda said hungrily, clamping his fingers together as if squeezing the life out of one. "He personally prefers the insects but we've negotiated an exchange."

Vinata's eyebrow twitched. If Garuda was ever enthusiastic about anything, it was about food. The insatiable man could swallow Rakshasas whole and still have room for several courses of Upanis and Maras.

Garuda's foot inched half off the edge before he suddenly had a devious idea. He tilted his head, a faint smile on his lips as he did so. "Oh, and regarding your idea, theoretically I think it's possible to birth a Nastika-level Sura."

Vinata blinked incredulously.

Garuda's smile inched further up his cheeks. "Tell me how it goes with Ananta, all right?"

Vinata's jaw hung agape for seconds after Garuda leaped into flight with his six wings flapping in synchrony. When the red man finally recovered some of his dignity, he made a fist and thrust it at the sky before taking off in hot pursuit of his king.

His king… for now.

**S-C-N-D**

The Kalavinka mentioned in this story is obviously not Vinata's daughter Kalavinka. She's a Nastika that came before her. :)

Thank you for reading! Please leave a review!

-SCND


	2. The Garuda Phoenix

I'm going to do a mass post today consisting of basically every chapter I have written thus far. It'll just be up here for anyone to find and read. Originally I planned on finishing the entire thing before posting but I think I'm more comfortable posting the chapters as they come along. Usually, I release three or four at a time anyways.

Disclaimer: There are many things in this world that do not belong to me. Kubera is one of them.

**S-C-N-D**

Courtship of a Phoenix

…

Nearly a hundred Garuda Clan Suras of different classes gathered around a white haired man. With a silver, zigzagging sword wrapped in his fingers, he stared at his people and announced a temporary departure. Quickly and concisely, he explained to them the arrangements he'd leave them—that as usual, Avifauna and Vinata were to take care of any significant clan affairs in his absence. And even though no one said anything, everyone knew that he named two names because he did not trust Vinata to be left in charge alone. They accepted the circumstances in silence.

Only one man stepped forward daringly.

"Hah?" sneered Vinata. "So it's Kubera this time? What, is Chandra not good enough for you to hunt anymore?"

…

**Chapter Two: The Garuda Phoenix  
**_N0 - approx. 1000000 years_

…

"I have to fight you?" sighed Vinata exasperatingly, putting a claw to his forehead. "Why do I have to fight _you_? It'll just be like adding fire to more fire and neither of us will get anywhere until this whole planet turns into a flaming star."

"Oh, come on! I like stars!" Agni protested. Being one of the few friendly five zen gods, he often played along with Vinata's melodrama in what few encounters they had since the beginning of the universe. Incidentally, what few encounters they did have ended up setting millions and millions of planets aflame for many centuries to come. "I want to see if we can make a blue one this time!" he squealed with childish glee.

Vinata heaved a sigh. "For every one we do make, we blow up like five more. I can't even count on two talons the number of solar systems we've smothered."

The god shrugged. "As long as you don't smother any of my favourites, we're good."

The two of them were lounging on a blazing white star. Half transformed, Vinata had his legs crossed and his arms propped on his knees, interlacing lethally sharp talons supporting his chin. Agni, being the more informal and easygoing of the two, leisurely sprawled on his back. He was in his white flame form and almost completely camouflaged.

Vinata's calculating eyes stalked his figure. "How many times have you died so far?"

The fire god pulled his upper body erect, drowsily turning to the Nastika and meeting him with pale yellow-white irises. "Me?" he asked, holding up his two hands to count. "Five… six… forty seven, I think."

"Oh."

Agni squinted at him. "_Oh_?"

"_Oh_ as in 'oh, I didn't expect that number to be so high,'" replied Vinata with a finger to his chin. "I think Chandra's count is up to twenty five—no, twenty six since he died again a while ago."

"Well, Chandra's not at the mercy of Gandharva every time he regenerates."

Vinata looked at Agni like he was crazy. "Are you kidding me? _You're_ the one who stalks Gandharva and insists on brawling with him. How is it his fault that you've died so many times?"

Agni looked sheepish. He scratched at a cowlick. "Well…"

"And while Chandra's not at the mercy of Gandharva, he is at the mercy of Garuda, Shuri, and I when he isn't busy catering to one of his oracles. I mean, it's so ridiculously easy to hunt him that it's not even funny."

Vinata's eyes darkened as his ferocity emerged in a wide grin, lethal teeth bared and all. Apart from the rivalry with the Ananta Clan, the Chandra Hunt was one of his favourite pastimes. Even though his Clan Attribute of sky was more advantageous when facing someone like Kubera, he would much rather hunt someone less apathetic and less like Garuda in general. Besides, Garuda had the Origin Attribute of Light, which gave him an advantage over Chandra. Vinata didn't, and could thus prove he was superior by killing the God of Darkness before his king got a chance to.

Whenever he could find Chandra, that was. The god was an expert at hiding, and not much else. In battle, he lost to Nastikas quite easily, a little boring for Vinata who liked to play with his prey. The chase was all that mattered.

Too bad Chandra was still in the process of regenerating and would not be back for at least another ten millenniums.

While Vinata had been running all that through his head, Agni stood up. "Where is Garuda right now?" he asked, his white skirt flowing like wisps of a flame on the brink of extinguishing.

His adversary also rose to his feet—or rather, talons. "Garuda? He ran off to find Kubera somewhere for reasons beyond my understanding. A king like him rarely picks fight. He's been taking too much influence from Visnu. He seems to think that none of you are worth fighting anymore, unless you pick the fight with him first."

Agni frowned. "So another Gandharva."

"Basically, but—" Vinata's smile grew, "_I_ am not above having a little brawl. What do you say you and I have a little fun for a change?"

Vinata outstretched his two hands toward the star, talons open and facing Agni as if welcoming a long lost kinsman into an embrace. In a flash, his wings flared and stretched. If they had been on a relatively small planet like Willarv, Vinata's wing span would have covered half of the sky.

The last of the orange-red feathers drifted and danced until they perished in the flames. Despite being on one of the hottest white stars in the universe, Vinata himself took little damage to the heat. The flares felt like little tingles on the tip of his feathers and the bottom of his feet. Even Agni's heat felt nothing hotter than a typical human day in Mistyshore.

Agni held Vinata's stare unsmilingly but his garments drifted in the powerful heat wave he was emitting as preparation for the upcoming battle. His colour tone changed once more from pale yellow-white to absolute white to the brink of light blue. Vinata waited a little longer for him to turn full blue and charge while the Nastika had not yet completed his transformation. Agni never did.

He must have thought that this battle would be like all the others.

"You better brace yourself," said Vinata, cracking his claws and holding them readily out in front of him. He gathered more vigor into his arms, transforming them them all the way up to his shoulders. "I'm actually going to aim to kill you."

Another second and his battle form was complete. Vinata stood as a half man, half bird, his wings outstretched and two arms completely animalistic, sharp claws and bright red feathers graduating giving way to tanned, dark skin at the shoulders. He kept the other parts of his body human, leaving on a dark, tattered red shirt that ended just above his waist and a skirt, also in tatters, barely reaching his knees.

The widening of lips was all the warning Agni got before Vinata shot forward swiftly. Agni hopped out of the way, leaving the Nastika to plunge deep beyond the gaseous surface of the star to its core. Somewhere down there, the blow was so great that a huge chunk of rock dislodged and disintegrated into tiny bits and pieces of flaming bullets, all shooting upward dangerously and sporadically.

When Vinata peered up, Agni had already taken on his battle form. A small, flaming white figure he was, with layers of fire forming into a skirt and more of the substance blessing him with wings.

The god swerved and swatted all the rocks that came his way. When he was thwarted by a boulder half the size of a mountain, Agni merely intensified his flame so that by the time it reached him, it was nothing but mouton drops of rock, dripping down the god's body and molding into one with his skirt.

With his mirthful eyes fixed on Agni, Vinata created a fireball twenty times his size and drove it straight into the centre of the star's core. Chunks of rock dislodged and shot straight for Agni. The unstable star was now cracking and spurting plasma everywhere, its fate already decided.

As the bits of rock approached Agni again, he simply deflected everything that was sent his way. Vinata, impatient, shot another fireball into the core before pushing his wings down and leaping off the unstable star. A millisecond later, it exploded into billions of pieces in a colourful supernova, engulfing both he and Agni.

Before long, Vinata shot out of the cluster of debris to land on one of the destroyed star's nearest planets.

Even with his shrewd eyesight, he could not discern where the star ended and Agni began. Every part of the supernova had the same intensity and the brightness that would have blinded all except for Yaksha Suras who were gifted with the Clan Attribute of light and a few Garuda Suras with very strong eyesight.

The remnants of Supernovae could remain for tens of thousands of years. Vinata couldn't possibly wait that long for one god; he had things to do, Ananta Suras to hunt and Nastika friends to visit. Knees bent, he angled his body downward, ready to shoot back into the fray, only stop upon catching sight of a very distinguished spot of blue.

Vinata grinned wider than ever.

The form of Agni slowly but surely emerged from the remnants of the blast, his pale blue eyes now fixated on Vinata in a rather apathetic manner. His hands were fisted and glued to his sides as the wings of flame raised him and brought him level with his opponent.

"So that's your blue flame," Vinata mused, two claws held out in a defensive manner. "This is the first time you've shown it to me. I'm curious as to how strong you are."

He charged again, springing with such vigor that upon leaving, the entire planet cracked and exploded. Vinata reached for Agni with the sharp nails of his left claw, intending to grab Agni around his ribcage and crush his very bones.

One second, Agni's flowing hair barely grazed his feathers, and the next, he found himself grasping at nothing. Vinata's eyes widened. In a split second, both of his wings burst into blue flames and his left arm had a long gash running from his claw to his shoulder.

Scowling, Vinata somersaulted in the air three times before diving and landing on another, smaller red star. His wound sizzled as he redirected energy there to regenerate.

Agni flew down to greet him once again. His blue face was ambivalent, as if he wanted to feel some sympathy for the Nastika but couldn't bring himself to because of either his nature or his caution of Vinata.

"Not bad," the red man growled grudgingly at the fire god. His wounds sizzled for one last time, leaving a row of newly grown feathers where it had been. "I never thought that a god would be able to lay a finger on me. I guess I underestimated you, Agni."

Once again, Vinata's wings sprung out of his back. This time, they were angled, folded and ready to flap at any indication of Agni's movement.

The fire god raised one blue eyebrow. "You're not going to show me your Sura form?"

"Do you want me to?"

"If you keep fighting me in this state, I'll end up killing you for real." Agni's entire figure shuddered at this as if it were a horrible notion. "I don't want to do that, especially if it means having Garuda hunt me for the next hundred millenniums."

"Oh, Garuda wouldn't care."

Agni looked dubious about that. "Yeah, well, still…"

Once again, Vinata's wings and arm burst into a storm of feathers, this time all spontaneously combusting before they merged with the star's surface. In the storm of fire, he gazed at Agni with a sharp glint in his eyes and an eminent frown.

Agni, too, settled down on the star, becoming white once more. He took a step closer to Vinata, nervous to the point where he was almost biting his nails. "Are we calling a cease fire?" he asked, momentarily pleased with himself with the reference to his own jurisdiction.

Vinata stared long and hard. "Are you should you should lower your guard so readily around me? I admit that I'm much less of a threat than, say, Gandharva, but I can still kill you."

With that, his eyes glowed and enlarged until they were entirely red and demonic.

"In my clan, they call me the Phoenix."

Right on cue, Agni leaped into the air, his wings of fire forming as he did. Blue flames shrouded his figure once more, bringing out his strongest battle form. He tossed balls of fire from one hand to another as if juggling them. Compared to his opponent, he was tiny, almost insignificant.

Vinata was at least a good fifty times larger than Agni in his Sura form and about one third the size of Willarv. The tip of his head had strands of beautiful, sleek yellow feathers sticking up. From there all the way down to his neck, the feathers darkened from yellow to orange. Even further down, the feathers changed from orange-red at his chest to bright red at his abdominal to burgundy from his thighs all the way down to his talons. Where his ears were, two orange horns jutted out, flaming at the tips. Similarly, his wings were also ignited at the golden tips, feathers darkening and reddening further inward.

Vinata flapped them, and for a second, all of the surrounding stars' flames were pushed away by the sheer force of the gust it made. Even Agni's flames dared to waver for a split second.

Vinata reached a claw out to touch Agni on the head. Even in his largest form, the fire god was barely bigger than the tip of a nail.

"Let me tell you how fire fights fire," the Nastika growled, his beak open and already forming a fireball big enough to rival the smallest planets. "I can't smother you like Gandharva can. Our powers will only feed each other. If we hit, we both get hurt. So I'll engorge your flames completely and make them mine."

He blasted the fireball at Agni, who barely avoided the bullet-like shot. Some few million miles behind him, Vinata's fireball obliterated another celestial body.

"You know," Agni sighed through half open lids, "You're putting me in a dangerous position. I might be visiting Yama sooner than I thought…" He ran a hand through his blazing, silver blue hair tiredly. "And here I was thinking that I could escape paperwork a little longer. Sorry, but I think I'm running out on this one."

Suddenly, he twisted and teleported elsewhere, leaving behind nothing but a whiff of smoke.

Vinata clamped his beak tightly. Stretching his wings again, he shot straight up at inhumane speeds. In a second, the stars and planets that had been surrounding him became nothing more than tiny speckles somewhere down below. At this position, he latched himself onto a planet that could barely support his weight. Directing his beak down, he gathered humongous amounts of energy and formed them into roaring balls of fire, ready to shoot jets in every direction.

"Agni, you can't hide from me."

Still no sign of him.

Vinata closed his eyes and then snapped them open sharply. If sound could travel in space, every being in the vicinity would have been deafened by the magnitude of the sound of fireballs shooting down like a blazing display of comets. The jets of fire destroyed hundreds of planets, asteroids and other bits of rock floating around. They even put some more smaller stars into unbalance and disequilibrium.

A blue speck caught his vigilant eyes for the second time.

Vinata dove toward it, grinning wildly. Agni was looking up at him with a very serious expression. With enough force to shake the entire inverse, they clashed. Then they broke apart. Then they clashed again.

One by one, the surrounding stars were destroyed by the heat and power of the two flames. Within a day, the part of the Human Realm where their battle took place was reduced to but colorful waste.

Vinata swatted a few rocks away from his face. "It's about time we finish this, no?"

Agni was panting heavily. His hair whipped wildly about him since he no longer had power to keep it in a tidy state. His clothes and wings also reflected his tiredness, now chipped, ragged and no longer refined. There were even seconds when his flame armor faltered, seconds where they approached the brink of vanishing.

Vinata himself was in pretty beat up shape. He had several gashes up his arms and legs. The feathers in his wings were all messed up, now a medley of orange, yellow and red instead of a gradual change. He reached a talon to his head to pull off a singed feather that had been dangling annoyingly just above his face.

Agni smiled. "Let's finish this."

Vinata nodded and lowered his body, positioning his beak at the small figure that was Agni, and prepared to clash with him one last time. He knew that he would never lose to Agni in this state, but he'd be lying to say that his muscles weren't sore at all after that fight.

"This was a great battle. You are a much worthier opponent than that warmonger Chandra." A blade of fire appeared in the giant bird's mouth as an extension of his beak.

Agni attacked first. A nasty fireball wrapped in his fingers, he aimed for the weak point of Garuda Suras—their eyes. But barely metres before he reached Vinata, the Phoenix pushed off of the planet and shot straight through him.

The last thing Vinata remembered was the exploding of a planet and its sharp debris battering his face. The leftover pieces of Agni's armor fell into the abyss, slowly smoldering as they did.

**S-C-N-D**

_N0 - approx. 1000000 years_

**S-C-N-D**

"What are you doing?"

Two red eyes snapped open to see another pair of silver directly above him. Garuda's standing figure towered over Vinata's lying one. Since a star was positioned directly behind his king, the stern face was covered in shadow. Which, of course, made it all the more serious.

Maybe a normal Sura would have been terrified, but not Vinata. Vinata simply stretched, sat up and groaned at the ache in his back, where his wings had been.

"Sleeping," the red man said, clutching his head. He refused to admit to Garuda that he had been unconscious for who knew how long. "I think I killed Agni."

Garuda held his sword close to his side. For what, Vinata didn't know. He couldn't possibly be considered a threat in his aching state, could he? "You shouldn't make a habit of sleeping on random planets," the king scolded. "It makes you an easy target for the gods and sets a bad example for other Nastikas of our clan."

"Mmhm," Vinata muttered noncomittally.

To which Garuda only knitted his eyebrows together quite worriedly. Vinata considered laughing at the absurd expression but held back because he was too sore and tired to taunt his king.

"What are you thinking now?"

Garuda continued to stare blankly at him. Vinata almost rolled his eyes at the blatantly childish cold shoulder before the masked man spoke, "If you must know, I'm considering all the possible reasons why you would be so foolish to try and fight a god who wields the same element you do. Are you bored of Chandra or is this some twisted attempt to sabotage my alliance with Gandharva?"

Vinata picked at his teeth. "Gandharva should be thankful that I got rid of a nuisance for ten thousand years. Unless some part of him actually secretly enjoys fighting with Agni, in which case he'll probably be mad at you for a while."

"Why would Gandharva be mad at _me_ if _you_ stole his prey?"

Vinata shrugged. "I don't know. I'm from your clan."

"And not a single day passes by where I don't wish otherwise," murmured Garuda.

If Vinata heard, he didn't show it. He stayed silent and for once, contemplative. Garuda searched the two red eyes for ill intent, but found none. All Vinata did for the next ten minutes was sit with his legs in a W shape and his arms slack between his knees.

Just as Garuda was about to coax him to return to their mountainous lands, Vinata asked, "Garuda, what are you afraid of?"

The question itself seemed genuine enough. Garuda just didn't know if he should answer it with a truthful answer.

_How pathetic_, he thought, _when you can't even trust your own lieutenant. Gandharva never had this problem with Makara or Urvasi… Shuri never had this problem with her Nastikas__… _

He looked at the sitting man and tried to picture Vinata sitting in his throne, weilding his sword and barking out orders. Knowing Vinata and his extreme mood swings, the clan would be toast in less than a year. Maybe it would become a world where the Garuda Suras screamed at everything that displeased them. Maybe it would become a world where they hunted Gandharva and Yaksha Suras and killed them without hesitation.

Garuda wasn't afraid of that. Vinata had his own ideals and his own way of ruling as king. It was just that the notion of it all left a bitter taste in his mouth. Be it he crown, the yelling, the throne, something just wasn't right about that image. Something wasn't right when he wasn't keeping the flamboyant Nastika in check.

Closing his eyes, Garuda turned and walked away from sitting figure.

"What am I afraid of?"

What if Vinata had indeed been killed by Agni? A world with no Vinata_…_ It would be peaceful. Yet if it actually happened, Garuda would actually become enraged enough to tear Agni apart limb after limb.

He closed his eyes and shook the confusing thought away.

"…Nothing."

**S-C-N-D**

This was a little long. All my other chapters range from 2000-3000 words. Um, not sure this scene is needed at all in the story, actually. :D But it was fun writing the battle between Agni and Vinata. I imagine that battles between gods and Nastikas are absolutely astronomical and awe-striking.

Thank you for reading! Please leave a review!

-SCND


	3. Friends to Go Around

A little trivia on the names: Cepphus is a genus of the auk family used to describe guillemots (black oceanic birds with white wings). Avifauna is a term for a group of birds in a specific ecosystem or habitat.

Disclaimer: There are many things in this world that do not belong to me. Kubera is one of them.

**S-C-N-D**

Courtship of a Phoenix

…

Some time before the pacts with the Yaksha and Gandharva Clans were made, Garuda had two other Nastikas contending for the throne. One was flamboyant, hotheaded and loved to ruffle his feathers. The other was amiable but icy when angered and absolutely unforgiving about grudges.

Mountains leveled at Vinata's hands, oceans dried and planets disintegrated. He loved flashy battles and intentionally left behind permanent landmarks to prove that he fought there.

On the other hand, when Kalavinka swept through, everything turned into a frozen wasteland, quickly, silently, lethally. He cared little for his surroundings, geography and entities alike. For him, the only option was to win.

Either one of them was just as charismatic and almost as strong as Garuda. Either of them could have given him a run for his money.

And what was worse was that his two competitors were best friends.

…

**Chapter Three: Friends to Go Around  
**_N0 - approx. 990000 years_

…

"Welcome, Vinata."

The only one of the three who indicated any notice of his presence was also the only one of the three who had his back to Vinata. As he turned his head, olive hair softly drifted over his eyes. Vinata wondered what Visnu hid under those bangs. He had always been wary of him and the vast knowledge the Original God over all entities.

One leg outstretched, Vinata landed on a rare patch of soft grass at the mountaintop where Garuda and his friends often met to dawdle the centuries away. It was at this point that both Gandharva and Shuri spotted him, each responding in a different manner. He was almost as silent as Garuda, simply blinking and nodding in her way. She, however, had a beaming smile and waved zealously with her hand and tail.

"Your poor Garuda has his hands tied up in the Sura Realm so I'm here instead."

"Hah," Gandharva snorted amusedly. "I thought you were too busy corrupting your race to do anything for Garuda as a favour."

"Now, Gandharva…" Visnu chided.

"Right," Shuri laughed, bringing her sleeve to her mouth. Her fluffy tail encircled one of Visnu's legs fondly as if commending him for standing up to the big bad sea monster. "What kind of friend of Garuda's would you be if you treat his kin like that?"

Gandharva, who paid no heed to his friends' admonishes, only scratched his neck and retorted candidly, "sure that guy may be of his clan, but don't you remember Garuda telling us stories throughout millenniums when he and Vinata fought claw to claw over the position of king?"

"It would be so much easier if he just relinquished it like Kinnara did for Airavata," Vinata growled.

"Oh my!" exclaimed Shuri, still covering her mouth with her sleeve. "Didn't she run off with Vritra after? I remember that scandal!"

"She didn't 'run off—'" air-quoted Gandharva with two blue fingers "—with him if she publically announced it. Besides, Airavata is respectable and actually ascended to kingship the proper way, unlike a certain tyrant we all know." He pointedly glared at Vinata.

"Gandharva, please. Let's not get too excited in the absence of Agni."

Shuri and Visnu burst into a wave of jolly laughter as Gandharva grumbled some more, glaring at Vinata as he made threats involving his canteen just quiet enough to fall a little short of the red man's hearing.

Visnu folded his legs a little closer to his chest. An ambiguous smile was painted across his face as he leaned forward and prophesized, "if Vinata really wants the throne that much, he'll have it. He can sit on Garuda's throne for as long as he pleases."

Vinata's eyes widened in shock. Gandharva and Shuri also did somewhat of a double take, the latter sliding her tail back to her side. The red man stared, jaw open, at Visnu and squinted to see his eyes through his bangs. Rarely did Visnu ever lie, but it was definitely not impossible either; he was a close friend of Garuda's after all.

Gandharva slapped a hand on Visnu's shoulder. He blanched an even paler shade of blue than he usually was. "Garuda help us, even I can't save him from impending doom this time."

"Vinata's going to be king?" Shuri asked, tilting her head and knitting her eyebrows in a vain attempt to picture the scenario.

Visnu said nothing.

Gandharva poured himself something from his canteen—very possibly liquor of some kind to tranquilize his anxiety. "Don't tell me. Visnu, Garuda didn't send _that guy_ here to create relationships for the future of his clan, did he?" A blue finger was pointed Vinata's way. "That guy of all people! That guy that he fought with for seven thousand years!"

Vinata had pondered the very same question as he was flying to this planet. Why had Garuda asked him to come? To have his friends keep an eye on him was the first rationale. But then, if Visnu actually hadn't been lying… he snuck a surreptitious glance at the Original God.

Visnu said nothing.

"And here I was just thinking about all the great times we've had together," sighed Shuri. "I'm going to miss Garuda when he's gone."

Now of all times, the olive haired man chose to turn to Shuri. "Not at all. Garuda will be the second last one of us to leave." Visnu focused his gaze momentarily on Vinata, as if making a silent but pointed statement that he had been accounted for in the "us."

Gandharva finally stopped the mad drinking to narrow his eyes disbelievingly at them all. "What? Impossible. I can hardly believe that one day Garuda's just going to go out of his mind and fork the throne over to _that guy_."

"Wouldn't it be nice if they had kids together?" Shuri suggested with a clasp of her hands.

All was silent.

Both Gandharva and Vinata erupted into laughter at the same time. A mix of crude and throaty chortles filled the air. Shuri's giggles eventually chimed in and Visnu also allowed himself enlightenment, though he stayed silent.

"I was kidding."

"That was good," the fish king gasped, wiping tears from the corner of his eyes. "Shuri, you're getting better at this. You almost got me there for a moment. Here, have a cup."

She graciously accepted his offering.

"But really," Vinata pondered aloud. "Shuri, what's it like being a woman?"

Gandharva's face went blank with alarm. "Don't tell me you're actually considering having kids with Garuda."

Vinata looked appalled at the suggestion.

"Okay, good. I didn't think so either… Go on, Shuri. What's it like being a woman?"

"Wouldn't you two like to know," Shuri said while wiggling her eyebrows. There's nothing really special about it other than the fact that you get approached all the time by male Nastikas." Her smile grew. "I don't think Vinata's going to have that problem since everyone in his clan is scared to death of him."

Vinata folded his arms tightly.

"Vinata, if you're so curious, then why don't you turn into a woman and see? Unlike Gandharva and I, you don't have a clan to run. You're free to do as you will. When you have all this time in the world, it's great to experience and satisfy your curiosity."

Visnu's face was filled with mischief. To Vinata, it looked more sinister.

"Nah, thanks. I'd rather just stay a man. Makes things much easier."

"What is it like being a man?"

"Pretty powerful," Gandharva answered, scratching his arm. "Free. I don't know how to describe it. It's like I can do anything I want anytime I want just because I can. I can kill as many Asura Suras as I want because they'll never put a scratch on me. I don't have to be constantly afraid because I'm stronger than most entities in the universe. So anything that pisses me off, I can just blow into a thousand pieces."

He glared at Vinata.

"I simply must try turning into a man someday," Shuri sighed. "Oh, Visnu. Why'd you have to make my female form stronger than my male?"

"It'd be a pity for the Yaksha clan," Vinata commented, "to lose their beauty to to Urvasi of that smelly fish monster's family over there."

Gandharva growled and rose to his feet belligerently .

"Now, children," Visnu admonished good-naturedly. "Break it up, and Shuri princess, don't worry about being female. Either gender, you're still the prettiest of them all."

"Aw, thank you Visnu!" She batted her eyelashes girlishly. "It means a lot coming from you." Her tail slung back over his neck.

"Kalavinka's prettier," Vinata suddenly spouted.

Once, Vinata's most loyal friend and comrade, Kalavinka, had been tied with him for the second in the clan. His Origin Attribute was water, and when they fought together they were indestructible. It was like this that they had destroyed the even the fiercest gods of nature, like Varuna and Indra.

But that had been billions of years ago. Since then, Kalavinka had taken on a female form, putting herself in the middle ranks of the Garuda Nastikas. To her credit, she was one of the most beautiful women in the Garuda Clan, her silvery-blue hair silky and long, her eyes a pale blue-grey, her slender female form and feathers also of the same colour. Even humans had been rendered speechless before her beauty.

But she was taken, had been taken for a long time by Cepphus and was perfectly happy with her husband at her side even though he was one of the lower ranked Nastikas.

"Kalavinka is a beauty," Visnu admitted, "and her two older brothers as well, especially the eldest one. He's very a handsome boy."

**S-C-N-D**

Yes, Visnu was totally talking about Yuta and Maruna at the very end. C: As usual, Shuri, Gandharva and Vinata would have just dismissed it as gibberish. They're not very concerned with events that happen hundreds of thousands of years later.

Thank you for reading! Please leave a review!

-SCND


	4. Stricken by Surprise

Turning point No. 1 happens here. :D

Disclaimer: There are many things in this world that do not belong to me. Kubera is one of them.

**S-C-N-D**

Courtship of a Phoenix

…

Mistyshore… Mistyshore… Mistyshore was a small village on planet Willarv of approximately a hundred humans. They didn't even have viable protection from inferior Suras, let alone for the superior ones. It was no wonder that a sea serpent lived on their very beaches without much interference from the humans.

But Urvasi's request was most bothersome: to bring Menaka food while she ran off to introduce Gandharva to women? Why couldn't Menaka hunt for herself? Vinata personally didn't know Urvasi well but since the Garuda and Gandharva Clans were on good terms, he decided to do so before the hilt of Garuda's sword came slamming down on his shoulder.

Nastikas couldn't travel on planets in Sura form and it was way too difficult to find this beach or whatever in his tiny human form. Offhandedly, he remembered Shess drawing a map of Willarv and giving it to him years ago. Vinata searched his clothes, found the crumpled ball of paper and opened it.

Scribbles. More scribbles. Circle. Square. Hexagon. A silly face of Airavata with her tongue sticking out.

_What is this?_ Right eye twitching, Vinata whipped the ball of paper at the ground, growling at its uselessness.

"Ow!" A man, some twenty years in physical age, turned to look for the culprit that had thrown the paper ball at him. His green eyes widened as he met Vinata's gaze.

…

**Chapter Four: Stricken by Surprise**

_N0 - approx. 800000 years_

…

"Oh my goodness! Was that just—"

"Hey, hey, have you seen Vinata's—"

A brown Nastika grabbed his own chin in thought. "What? Vinata did? Wait… does that mean _I'm_ second in the clan now? But hasn't he been contending with Garuda for the throne since the beginning of time?"

"Avifauna-nim, don't you mean she?"

A pale, alabaster woman with silvery blue hair leaped onto a high rock and gave the crowd a quick survey. Almost all Nastikas and a good half of the Rakshasas had gathered in a multitude of colours and were chatting amongst each other garrulously. For many of the older Nastikas, this was relieving news. Some, like Cepphus and Avifauna, had conflicted views on this new political development. Still younger Rakshasas whirled their head here and there confusedly, trying to piece together bits and pieces of conversations to figure out this Vinata person and his—her influence on the clan.

"Kalavinka."

A multitude of jaws opened as red and orange feathers rained on the crowd. In an instant, Vinata landed beside the blue haired woman in her half Sura form, but put her sharp claws away shortly after her talons touched the rocky surface of the ground.

"Vinata!" exclaimed Kalavinka, stepping back in surprise. Her eyes were almost bulging out of her head at the abrupt anatomical change of her long time comrade and friend. "So the rumours are true! You—you're a woman now!"

"I am," Vinata confirmed in a voice an octave higher than what it should be. "You know, I've always wondered what it'd be like having these—" she pointed to her breasts. "They're not as great as I thought, kind of hindering. I don't understand how Menaka and Shuri can deal with their F-cups. It's fine, though, I guess. As long as I still have abs and muscles, I'm good."

"Are you forgoing your position as Garuda's second in command?" a yellow Nastika hollered.

All of a sudden, everyone started buzzing with conversation once more.

"No, it can't be. Don't you remember billions of years ago during the Age of Anarchy, after the strongest Nastikas of eight clans formed an alliance and destroyed all the five zen and four zen gods? Don't you remember how the our clan almost divided in two during the Seven Thousand Year battle between Garuda and the Phoenix?"

"But do you think she and Garuda are—"

"Impossible!"

"Mommy, why's everyone so angry?"

"We're not angry, darling. Avifauna-nim, there are children here. Do something about this ruckus."

"Idiot. Why would you ask Avifauna? He's second in command now. He'd _want_ Vinata to stay female."

"Geez," grumbled Avifauna, running a hand through his chestnut hair. "This is just like that time Kalavinka changed her gender. Why does it matter so much that Vinata's female? We're short of Nastika women as it is. Just let her do what she wants."

"Of course it matters!" snarled a dark grey Nastika next to him. "First Kalavinka and now Vinata. How long will it be before Garuda becomes female as well? If all of the strongest Nastikas in this clan forgo their positions, then how will we be able to face the Ananta Clan? Who's going to get us our food?" Cepphus was very frustrated and on the verge of a semi-transformation. The other Suras backed away to make room for one of his infamous outbursts.

In a flash, two white wings shot out of his back and a claw rammed into Vinata's body with enough force to destroy the summit of the mountain she was standing on. In front of her, hundreds of wings flapped simultaneously as Garuda Suras of all prestige took flight to avoid being crushed by the rocks. As Cepphus forced Vinata down into a chasm, she got a glimpse of blue feathers and Kalavinka's worried eyes gazing down at the two falling figures.

Cepphus's eyes were the colour of obsidian. He glared at her intensely and angrily. The growl that escaped his throat told her he had every intent of slamming her head into the sharp points of the rocks below. Talk about literally beating some sense into her brain.

Vinata growled back at him. Feathers sprung out of her back and down her arms in the split second before they hit the ground. He leaped away from her as she gave her wings a huge flap, bringing herself to a half stable landing.

When the dust and residue settled, Cepphus's half transformed state emerged and strode toward her. Grey hair fluttering about his neck, his left claw balled into a fist at his side, animalistic eyes fixed on her figure, he was furious.

"Why are you a woman?"

"Because I was curious. Because I wanted to be."

With a snarl, he opened his clawed fist and surged toward her figure, slamming Vinata into the stone wall behind her. He lifted his head so that a single streak of light flashed across his iris menacingly. Yet she didn't say anything because she knew Cepphus had a right to be angry and she knew that no matter how furious he was, he would never hurt her.

"You traitor."

"…"

"You know I've _always_ thought it should be you who's king, not Garuda. I supported you for two billion years. I was your lieutenant in the Seven Thousand Year War. I killed my own kinsman for you!" His bore his fangs in a half snarl, half outcry. "Have my efforts all been in vain? Have yours?"

"Cepphus, you shouldn't say these things while Garuda's still on the throne."

The claw tightened until she found it hard to breathe. "I don't care!" he growled. "Garuda knows that he doesn't have half his Nastikas' support. He's all but labeled us traitors—the ones who sided with you in the civil uprising.

"You're giving up already? After a billion years? Who knows how much longer the universe is going to last? There was a time when we all thought that the eight great clan leaders could not be touched but now, Yaksha's already been long dead. Even Garuda won't last forever. Would you rather succeed the throne or allow someone like Avifauna to ascend and plunge our clan into a quagmire?"

"Enough already! Visnu told me I'd sit on the throne!" blurted Vinata.

Cepphus's eyes widened and he loosened his grip on her, temporarily reeling away with incredulity. The shock eventually gave way to suspicion and he narrowed his eyes at Vinata.

"And Garuda was there to hear this?"

"No," the phoenix told him, reclining her wings now that Cepphus was no longer enraged, "but Shuri and Gandharva were."

"So he probably already knows," he gritted through his teeth. His eyes were sharper, more calculating now that there was a chance for a coup d'état. "Then that's all the more reason you should remain male. You're much weaker than him in your female state. It puts us at a disadvantage. Garuda will no doubt single you out and strike now."

"Garuda will not, and here's why." Vinata folded her arms. "He may try to subdue and weaken me, but he will never actually kill me. Since I'm the second strongest Garuda Sura in my male form, if I die, it'll put our clan in a very bad position against the Ananta Suras and the gods. Chandra has already declared war publicly on any Garuda Sura that crosses his path. Varuna is backing him. If worst comes to worst, Kalavinka will have to assume masculine form again. She'll probably have the support of all the Nastikas on my side during the Seven Thousand Year War. Garuda can't risk having his clan almost torn apart again and you wouldn't want Kalavinka to have to resort to that."

"Then what will you do?" he demanded. "Wait until Garuda dies?"

"No. Visnu foretold that Garuda won't die until Shuri and Gandharva do—and most likely I as well. But Shuri and Gandharva are two of the strongest beings in the universe. More importantly, they are two of Visnu's closest friends, so Visnu will do all that is in his power to protect them. So don't worry, Cepphus, there's still plenty of time. Let us wait another few hundred thousand years. Soon he'll willingly give me his position." Vinata broke out into a fanged, tomboyish smile.

**S-C-N-D**

_N0 - approx. 800000 years_

**S-C-N-D**

"Garuda, the entire clan is in uproar!"

The king was promptly snapped out of a particularly pleasant fantasy that revolved around having Sagara for lunch. A cyan Rakshasa landed at his feet, bowing but at the same time almost shaking with terror. Terror that was not at Garuda.

"Today's my day off," he sighed, grabbing his silver zigzagging sword. "Tell Vinata to deal with whatever's happening."

"No, Garuda-nim!" the Rakshasa was desperate. "You don't understand! Cepphus-nim, he's picking a fight with Vinata-nim. Kalavinka-nim took off to stop them but a Mara just told me that both of them are already in Sura form!"

"What?"

Garuda swiveled urgently, his hand readjusting to form a tighter grip on his sword. If even the fourth stage Rakshasa, one of the stronger Suras in his clan, had a face that was so dark and apprehensive… He inwardly winced at this predicament. Why did Cepphus have to pick a fight with his lieutenant of all people? Vinata would obliterate him.

"Where are they?" he demanded, drawing his six wings out.

"They flew to the planet beside this one. The other Garuda Suras are scared that it'll blow up and rain debris on our nests."

By the time he looked back up, Garuda was already surging into the sky. As king, he was the swiftest and the most graceful bird in the clan. Just by bringing out his wings, he could be halfway to the next celestial body, like a rocket shooting off into space.

With his shrewd eyes, it wasn't hard to catch sight of Vinata and Cepphus, two monstrosities that made a planet look like it had shrunk. They were completely morphed, the flaming red-orange phoenix occupying an entire quarter of the surface, a gigantic black guillemot with white wings occupying another.

The ground was barren with craters, permanent landmarks from their hefty brawl. Several transformed Rakshasas and lower class Suras circled around the scene, hesitant to interfere because they didn't want to charge in and accidentally get decimated.

Garuda did the opposite.

They felt his presence as he was transforming. At once, hundreds of Suras scrambled to fly as far as they could out of the mighty bird's path. Those who couldn't make it in time were flung aside by the power of Garuda's wing flaps.

He landed on the planet with an impact large enough to shake the entire body of rock. As Vinata and Cepphus charged toward each other again, a white bird intercepted them, simultaneously grabbling Cepphus by the neck while pinning Vinata to the ground.

All three of them transformed at the same time.

"What the hell are you doing, Garuda?" Vinata hissed.

Garuda raised the phoenix to her feet, frowning. "I think I should be the one asking you that. Why are you, my lieutenant, fighting with a Nastika of your very own clan? Do you not know how disgraceful that—"

His eyes widened and Cepphus's neck slipped through his hands.

"Vinata, you—"

"What?" she fired, irritated.

Garuda blinked his eyes several times incredulously, but they still weren't going away. Why had his lieutenant suddenly gained… gained… two very extra round bits of flesh in his—her chest area?

He coughed a little in his struggle to retain posture before sternly reprimanding, "why were you fighting with Cepphus? Where is Kalavinka?"

"I'm right here!" a high pitched voice exclaimed from behind him.

Garuda turned to see a blue haired woman tending to a black haired male that was glaring very heatedly at him. Kalavinka loosely slung her arms around his waist and in turn, one of Cepphus's arms was wrapped possessively around her shoulder.

"You were here all along?" Garuda demanded with a step forward. "Why didn't you do anything to stop them?"

"Why would she?" Vinata sniffed, crossing her arms to fully accentuate her latest assets. "Cepphus and I were just having a friendly little brawl. I wanted to see how much weaker I've gotten in my female form. Turns out that I can still whoop his sorry little tail feathers."

Cepphus snarled.

"Vinata, you and I need to talk. _Alone_," her king articulated, sending glares at Cepphus, Kalavinka and all the other Garuda Suras that were flying around, eavesdropping.

One by one, they left the planet to head back to their own respective nests, until it was just Garuda and Vinata left on that barren battleground. He said nothing in his disbelief. She licked her two claws rather crudely with jaded, half-drawn eyelids.

"What, did you want us isolated so that you can eradicate me once and for all in my weakened state?"

"Okay, Vinata, what's the deal?"

Her crimson irises moved up to meet his silver ones. "What deal?"

Garuda stood plainly, his hands hanging at his two sides. One of them had a loose grip on his sword, which was half dropped to the ground in a temporary truce. "Why are you a female?" he asked.

"So I can't be one?" She smiled slyly, taking the two steps to close the distance between them and placing a hand on his shoulder. "I've been mulling over your suggestion for the past couple hundred thousand years, my dear king. Maybe Ananta really is my one true love. Don't the humans always tell us that we never know until we try?"

"Don't fool with me."

"Why, I'd never—"

Garuda dropped his sword and grabbed her shoulders with both hands, the roughest treatment he had ever given her when they weren't locked in battle. He tugged her body close to his, until her breasts were a mere inch from touching his own chest. She was so close that she could feel strands of his white hair tickle her naked abdominals.

"We both know what a blatant lie that is. After billions of years of you thwarting me, how can you just suddenly feel like becoming a female?"

Vinata was temporarily stricken. "W-why can't I be one if I want to?" she lashed out at him, putting them at even closer proximity. "It's not as if we're of the Vritra Clan. I can change my gender whenever I want."

"But you wouldn't, not unless you had something greater to gain from it than you do from being king."

Garuda searched her eyes, eyes that he noticed for the first time contained tiny flickers and highlights of orange mixed in the red. A little like Vinata's wings, they were colourful and flamboyant, something that he never was. Garuda saw uncertainty deep within those irises. They contained a secret, one that she feared others would discover, one that put her at a disadvantage.

"You know what I think?" he whispered gently. "I think that you fell victim to love. After all, what other reason does a Nastika have for taking on the female form?"

Vinata neither confirmed nor denied this, but turned her head and stretched her neck away as far away from him as she could.

"But Vinata, why would someone as assertive as you ever take on the female form? I can only think of two reasons. Either it's because your mate is stronger than you, which, given that _I_ am the only Nastika in this clan stronger than you, is hardly possible. Or, could it be that you have no choice but to become a female because your lover is a fixed gender? So now the real question is: is it a Rakshasa, an Upani, or a Mara?"

"…"

"Or is it," he pressed, "a human?"

Vinata gritted her teeth and squeezed her eyes shut. As soon as Garuda loosened his grip on her shoulders, she took two large wing flaps away from him, landing in a belligerent position. But Garuda was not shaken by this, for Vinata was often in a belligerent position when he was near. No, it was her quivering lips and watery eyes that almost made his heart lurch painfully.

In pain? In pity? He didn't know, but as usual, the look in his eyes managed to anger her once again.

"Why do you care?" she snapped ferociously. "You never do anything other than maintain order in your clan. What do you know about love, Garuda? So what if I choose to be with a human for a couple of years? It's none of your concern, unless you're ashamed of having a Nastika of your clan settle for such lowly standards. Yes… Gandharva and Shuri and Visnu… I bet they'll all be laughing at you!"

"…"

"I may be of your clan, but don't you forget for a moment that I do _not_ belong to you!"

And with that, Vinata spread her colossal wings to take off in the direction of Willarv.

**S-C-N-D**

Personally, I'd like to think of the green eyed boy as a Haias, so a very very ancient ancestor of Leez and Anna? xD

Thank you for reading! Please leave a review!

-SCND


	5. Winged Half

Edit: I have included three realms in this story, but most of the events are going to be happening in the human realm, since it looks like that's where the Garuda Suras made their home (I mean, the Sura realm can't possibly be that beautiful in Ch. 74).

Disclaimer: There are many things in this world that do not belong to me. Kubera is one of them.

**S-C-N-D**

Courtship of a Phoenix

…

Humans truly had too short of a lifespan. Tears trickled down Vinata's face as she stood before a bloody mess of limbs. In death, his face was still. His green eyes were open and his mouth was agape, as if in the middle of calling out for her. For one last time, she stared into those lifeless eyes, before burying him with a swift sweep of one feathered arm. In her other, she nestled an infant Half to her chest.

_I'll keep you safe_, she thought, carrying the child into starry skies. _I won't let anyone hurt you._

…

**Chapter Five: Winged Half  
**_N0 - approx. 790000 years_

…

"So, uh, Garuda, I hear there's quite a scandal going on in your clan there revolving around a child bearing lieutenant."

"Are you kidding?" Gandharva snapped, completely pushing aside Shuri's remark. "You let a _Half_ enter your nest and live amongst the Suras? Have you gone mad!"

Garuda stood rigidly erect at the edge of a cliff, crossing his arms rather firmly. To any onlookers it would have looked like he was refuting their statement with the regality of a king. However, to his friends, he was nothing but a petulant, sulking bird.

"You know as well as I do that I can't leave Vinata unsupervised, and she insists on staying with her child."

"She's staying in female form for him!" scowled his blue friend with a slam of his canteen against the floor. "That is the very first clue you should be taking that Vinata is _not_ in her right state of mind."

"Gandharva," Garuda sighed, "think about it from my perspective for a change. Vinata's been constantly waging war on me for the past two billion years. If having a Half in my territory is all it takes for a few decades of peace, then I can live with that."

"Oh, Garuda," Shuri laughed, "are you sure you're not developing some kind of soft spot for her?"

Visnu said nothing but smiled teasingly.

Garuda rolled his eyes. "Have you gone mad, Shuri?"

"Talk about the pot calling the kettle black."

"How are the other Suras in your clan treating him?" Visnu interjected curiously.

Garuda pushed a thoughtful fist against his cheek. "Well, the inferior Suras don't dare to touch on him because they don't want to answer to Vinata, Kalavinka, and Cepphus. The Superior Suras don't seem to care much either; he has no problem mixing with the Rakshasa children. Sometimes she lets him out of her sight, and even then they don't seem to bear much ill will toward a Half with wings."

"Wow! Wings!" Shuri exclaimed.

Visnu's smile widened. "That's Vinata for you."

Even Gandharva was genuinely surprised.

Garuda walked to the edge of the cliff. He looked into the clouds, a smile grazing his lips as he recalled the past month when Vinata had all but threatened to push her son off a similar edge. "A while ago," he mumbled softly, almost to himself, "she was teaching him how to fly."

"Oh my!" Shuri gasped, putting a sleeve to her mouth.

"What a mother indeed," Visnu remarked.

Gandharva grumbled something under his breath.

Garuda barely even noticed his three good friends. His mind was still lost somewhere in the clouds, where a mirage of Vinata soured with her son and two brilliant sets of red-orange wings adorned the sky.

**S-C-N-D**

_N0 - approx. 790000 years_

**_S-C-N-D_**

"Vinata," he asked her one day as she was sitting on a rock that overlooked most of the Garuda Clan's territory and some of the bordering Ananta Clan's, "why did you keep him with you? You know that it's unorthodox for Suras to keep Half children by their side. Haven't you been ridiculed enough by the other Nastikas of the clan?"

Vinata, who was swinging her dangling legs back and forth, stopped the motion and replied, "Garuda, tell me, how much is four hundred years to you?"

He closed his eyes. "A very short time."

"Exactly, so what does it matter that I spend four hundred years with my child and raise him in the way of the Suras, keep him close by my side and away from danger? It would be rather disappointing if I failed as a mother for a mere four hundred years, don't you think? If I can't handle such a trivial task, how will I ever raise any Rakshasas?"

A blur of orange suddenly shot out of the clouds straight into Garuda's chest. On instinct his two arms flew up, catching the small child under his armpits while his wings were still flapping. For a transient moment, the half's green eyes were alight with more excitement than every single Garuda Sura combined.

"Mom, mom! I did it! I—" And then he realized that the figure in front of him had not, in fact, been his mom. "Ah, Garuda-nim, I'm so sorry."

Vinata hopped to her talons and was by their side in a moment. "Hey, hey," she said with a foxy smile. "No need to apologize to Garuda. He can deal with it."

"Here." Garuda held out his arms to present the Half to Vinata, who stared at him as if he had just asked her to eat a raw cucumber.

"You look like you're offering my child for sacrifice," she sniffled, snatching the Half away from Garuda's arms and promptly tossing him into the rocky chasm. "Off you go now! Make mom proud!"

The child appeared completely unfazed that his mother had just attempted to feed him to whatever monster prowling below. In midair, he spread his wings and did a twirl before steadying himself, yipping and cheering as he soared higher to do figure eights in the clouds.

Garuda placed a hand just above his eyes and squinted. "Is that how you really taught him to fly?"

"Hm? Well, yeah, some variation of that," she replied, yawning and stretching, loose red feathers drifting everywhere. "It's not a big deal. I just threw him off a couple of cliffs when his wings were still developing and caught him afterwards when he fell. By the time he was able to fly, he wasn't even remotely scared of heights anymore. Or falling."

_What a brutal childhood…_ Garuda thought, almost shuddering. "Is that how you plan to mother all your kids?"

"Well… yeah. Man, Garuda. You really are getting soft, aren't you? Some things in this world you have to let the young ones learn for themselves. No Garuda Nastika is going to go out of their way to hunt Ananta Suras for their children every time they're hungry. Besides," she added, staring at the half fondly, "I'll rather miss doing this when he grows up in a few years."

"Right… I almost forgot…" he stated rather sadly. "When he dies, you'll be assuming your male form again."

"Yeah," Vinata said, clenching and unclenching her fist several times as if to test her strength. "Soon, I'll be back, plotting your unfortunate retirement. Until then, don't miss me too much, Garuda."

Garuda didn't think that was going to be much of a problem. If anything, he thought that he would miss her female side a little bit more. Vinata as a male was ruthless, powerful, wild, everything that a second in command should be. But Vinata as a female… she was caring and motherly and unafraid. She smiled when she wanted to smile and she yelled when she wanted to yell. She wasn't scared of touching Garuda—a gentler touch, unlike the rough manhandling he had to endure at the masculine Vinata's hands—and she wasn't afraid of speaking to him. Actually speaking to him about herself and her values and dreams, not about when he was going to forgo the throne or what was the new strategy to kill Ananta or when was Chandra going to revive again so he could entertain himself some more.

For once, it felt… rather nice.

**S-C-N-D**

I think the entire thing is about twenty chapters long. It'll be the story of Garuda and Vinata from 1250000 years prior to the current time in the story all the way until N0 when Vinata dies.

Thank you for reading! Please leave a review!

-SCND


	6. Head Over Talons

We now reach the actual courtship part of the story. :D You know, birds in real life usually have different mates every year. Only a few races actually stay with one mate for a lifetime. But then in real life birds also eat fish and Maruna says they're too smelly, so…

Disclaimer: There are many things in this world that do not belong to me. Kubera is one of them.

**S-C-N-D**

Courtship of a Phoenix

…

Vinata remembered when Visnu first elaborated on the concept of gender changing to the Nastikas. It happened a very long time ago, when there had been no feuding clans. They could freely change from male to female and vice versa whenever they wanted to but usually each individual identified with one gender. Nastika males were generally stronger while Nastika females had the ability to bear children and ensure the proliferation of their clans. Right off the bat, after hearing this, most of the Nastikas became decidedly male.

"Is there a difference?" Sagara asked, yawning. She, unlike many others, had chosen a female form to become desirable amongst the members of her clan. "Male… female… they all seem the same to me."

"The difference is unique to each Nastika," he explained, "some are stronger, some are prettier and some are able to connect to life through a different, more emotional level."

Vinata always thought it to be unnerving how Visnu's gaze was directed his way when he'd said that.

…

**Chapter Six: Head over Talons  
**_N0 - approx. 790000 years_

…

Two Nastikas stood on a plain of flowers. Just the two of them, because she requested a private funeral but he insisted on accompanying her. Vinata's smaller figure stood to the left of Garuda, her head lowered and her bangs shielding her eyes. A single stream of water trickled down her cheek. She let it stay there. Without really thinking about it, Garuda slung an arm around her shoulder for support, curling his fingers into her skin in an eager attempt to feel the warmth of her body.

"Garuda," she murmured, lowering her head even further. "I give up on you. I have much too much to lose from being king. When I laugh, it is true laughter. When I cry, they are genuine tears. To steel myself, to control my emotions while knowing that the fate of my clan rests on it… I don't think I have what it takes."

She slipped through his fingers and knelt down next to her Half's body. Garuda could see her face clearly now. He almost wished that he couldn't. He was sure that Vinata's tragic expression would not leave his head for as long as he was alive. Her lips formed the saddest smile. Her eyes were imbued with grief. Her orange eyebrows curved inward like wings too heavy for a bird to spread.

For her, he did a most unkingly thing. Garuda thought of nothing else but to bring a smile back on her face as he knelt down and gathered thousands of flower buds. Each one was placed gently and carefully around the dead Half until nothing could be seen of him but his orange face and white eyebrows.

Vinata stopped crying.

"I'm hungry," she uttered, rubbing at her eyes. "Let's go hunt some Ananta Rakshasas."

He knew it was just her way of alleviating the pain. He could not even begin to understand how painful it was for her to have feelings she knew she shouldn't be having as a Nastika. Both of them knew that the worst was yet to be over. She would be teased and taunted for this until the end of the universe.

Vinata was going to have to harden herself once more into someone less vulnerable, someone who could bear that burden. And she was going to start by ruthlessly tearing Ananta Suras apart.

That day, she killed ten Rakshasas and hundreds more Upanis and Maras. She decimated them in merciless ways, shoving bits and pieces down her throat to satisfy her hunger before moving on to the next. Despite having claimed that she was hungry, most of the carcasses were left to rot.

Garuda hadn't done anything, but he consistently stayed two wingspans behind her, hovering in the air to watch for signs of Ananta Nastikas. Vinata in rage was a force to be reckoned with, but she was also utterly reckless. Against most of the Nastikas she would emerge victorious, even in her female form. Ananta and Vasuki were different stories.

Garuda stared dazedly at the flaming phoenix. He saw the bird being strangled by Ananta's huge, spiked tail. He saw her falling from the sky, wings shredded and feathers skinned with one lash from the strongest Sura.

And he realized what he was really scared of.

**S-C-N-D**

_N0 - approx. 790000 years_

**S-C-N-D**

"Gandharva," a white figure lamented from the grey shores, "do you think I did a little too much?"

Beneath him, his friend was lounging about, floating atop the deep waters like a carefree piece of sea foam. "A little too much?" Gandharva snorted. "Garuda, that's an understatement if I ever heard one. You took her Half into the most scared valley in your territory and buried him in flowers." He sat up in outrage. "What kind of _Nastika_ buries a _Half_ in _flowers_?"

Garuda hugged his knees together in a sulk. "But Vinata was happy."

"And since when is your first priority making Vinata happy?" demanded Gandharva with a scowl. "Do you know what Visnu said two hundred thousand years ago? He told us that Vinata would one day sit on your throne. It's all an act to play you for a fool."

"Vinata doesn't want the throne," he protested, "not anymore. She's been female for a thousand years now since her Half died."

A hopeless smile made its way across Garuda's lips. Gandharva squinted at his friend in disbelief, before waving a hand his way. A second later, Garuda's balled figure was assaulted by a huge blizzard of ice and snow. He emerged disgruntled, shaking his feathers and flapping his wings to shed all the icicles that had formed.

"Gandharva," Garuda grumbled, fingering a stiff feather, "you know I hate it when I get frost on my feathers. Unlike Vinata, I don't have the Origin Attribute of fire."

"I can't believe this." The blue man slammed a hand on his face. "I thought I'd knock some sense into you but now you're finding ways to bring her into the conversation when she's not even relevant to the conversation. I can't bear to see you in this pathetic state. Just ask her to be your queen for goodness sakes!"

Garuda's face was all denial. "W-what are you saying? It's not like that at all. I don't love Vinata. I'm just concerned for her well-being, as I would for any Nastika of my clan."

"Really? Because the way you were looking at her Half a thousand years ago was screaming to Shuri, Visnu and I that you wished he was your kid."

"I didn't—"

"Forget it, Garuda. I'm not even going to bother arguing this with you anymore. I've got better things to do in my spare time. Don't come to me again unless you want to hunt some Asura Suras, capeesh?"

Garuda reached out a lingering hand as Gandharva submerged himself in his ocean. The hand was dropped, followed by a sad drooping of wings and the rumble of thunderclouds above.

**S-C-N-D**

_N0 - approx. 770000 years_

**S-C-N-D**

"A bird!"

"It's Garuda!"

"Shuri-nim, Shuri-nim! Garuda-nim has arrived."

"Ah, Garuda-nim, have you finally come to—"

All commotion was interrupted by the clumsy landing and heavy trudging of a conflicted bird. His arms hung limply at his sides as he approached Shuri's bundle of fur with something of a grimace.

Which, of course, roused up even more commotion.

"Ah, Garuda-nim looks dead!"

"What's wrong with him?"

"Dead bird, dead bird."

"Hush, don't you know that Garuda's the leader of a clan? If you disrespect him, he'll blow you into pieces with his Transcendency!"

"Now children," Shuri scolded the Suras surrounding her, "behave yourselves. You're representing the great Yaksha Clan. Don't make a fool of me in front of my dear friend now."

"Yes Shuri-nim!" they chorused, flattening their ears in apology.

Shuri reached a welcoming hand to the hunching figure and pulled him into the bundle of fur next to her, which he happily buried himself face-first into. Shaking her head, Shuri stroked Garuda's back gently as consolidation for whatever troubles he was going through. From king to king, she could understand a little better than most Garuda Nastikas the ordeals he was constantly faced with.

"Tell me, Garuda, what's gotten you looking like a dead bird in my nest?"

He gave a muffled grunt.

"Or perhaps you'd like to talk to Gandharva about it instead?"

Garuda turned to glower at her.

"Oh, no. Don't tell me you two had some sort of falling out. It'd be terrible if Visnu and I have act as the go between for the next million years."

"No…" he rasped in a half dead voice. "Gandharva and I are fine. We're not on speaking terms but he'll get over his childish fit soon enough. I did a little reflecting and decided that you'd be the best person to come to regarding this problem."

He and Shuri sat up, Garuda running a frustrated hand through his snow white hair.

The Yaksha Suras around them were all silent, silent with absolute interest. Other than tidbits that Shuri occasionally indulged them in, they rarely knew of the affairs taking place in the Gandharva and Garuda Clans. And Garuda approaching Shuri in her actual home! That was a rarity if there was ever one.

"Shuri, how do you impress a female Nastika?"

Shuri blinked. She blinked again. Then she started exclaiming excitedly, "Garuda, did you just say what I think you said? Oh, I knew it! I knew it! I just knew you would eventually fall for Vin—"

He leaped forward, clamping a hand around her mouth before the full name could escape her lips. But it was too late. Vinata was renown even amongst the lower Suras of the Yaksha Clan. In fact, she often purposely left them Ananta Sura carcasses to scavenge, so she was somewhat of a favourite.

Yaksha Suras were merciless teasers.

"Vinata-nim?" the name echoed across the crowd. "Garuda-nim likes Vinata-nim?"

"Oh, what a joyous day! Maybe one day they'll have lots of orange birdies and they'll leave behind snake for us as well!"

"Garuda-nim, hurry up and ask her to be your queen! Visnu bless!"

"It's over for me," he anguished, burrowing himself into Shuri's fur bundle once again. "Shuri, it's over."

"Nonsense! My little darlings, you run along now. Let Garuda and I work out our problems and I'll have some tales for you after he leaves. Oh, make sure you don't chit chat with the Garuda Clan too much. We wouldn't want our little white bird to lose face now, would we?"

After the Yaksha Suras departed one by one, tails and ears drooping in disappointment, Garuda shot Shuri a pointedly annoyed glare. "You know, Shuri, I've always maintained that Yaksha Suras are the worst gossipers of the eight clans. Now I know where they get it from."

"Oh, Garuda. When you've been given billions of years to lounge away, eventually you have to develop some kind of hobby. My Yaksha children are relatively tame, unlike your killer birds who splatter Ananta Suras' guts whenever you're in the mood to do so. By the way, I heard that Vinata's gone on more rampages than usual recently. My Yaksha children tell me that you've been watching over her."

"I didn't want Ananta or Vasuki to hurt her."

"Ah, playing the dutiful part of a secret admirer, always watching from afar. It's cute how much you love her, Garuda."

"It's not love!" he was quick to protest. "It's just-just—"

"Just what?"

"It's just infatuation. It'll go away in a few thousand years, when she turns male again."

Shuri didn't think he knew the way his body seemed to hang darkly at the idea. She looked up at the sky and sure enough, there were thunderclouds approaching from the horizon. Though they hadn't let started to drop rain, they continued creeping closer the more confused and conflicted Garuda became.

"What if she doesn't become male? What if she chooses to stay in her female form from now on?"

Garuda's eyes widened. "I-impossible. There's no way that Vinata would…"

"But you want her to be your queen, don't you?"

"I—no, not particularly," he lied. "Vinata would never be able to picture herself as my queen. I myself have a hard time doing it."

But he did not have a hard time doing it, and that was where all the trouble laid—he should not have been imagining Vinata as his mate, but he did.

In fact, there was nothing easier than closing his eyes on a breezy day and picturing her sitting next to him—her sitting in his lap, on his throne, anywhere as long as she was within an arm's reach. He wanted to wrap an arm around her waist. He wanted to bring her head close until she was leaning against his shoulder. He wanted to fully engulf her in a tight hug once—just once—so that he'd know how it felt like to have Vinata's warm body pressed against his.

It scared him.

"Then I think it's fine for you to wait a few thousand of years and see how it all pans out," suggested Shuri. "You're fine with it as long as she's close to you, aren't you Garuda?"

"I hate this feeling," he admitted as he pictured losing himself in Vinata's beautiful eyes. "For once, I can honestly admit that I wish we could go back to the days when we were having the Seven Thousand Year War."

Shuri's eyebrows knitted together in a moment of confusion. "You want to fight her?"

"No. I yearn for the resolution I had during that time. At least then I knew what to feel about Vinata."

"Garuda, don't mull over it too much. You're absurdly selfless for a Nastika that's so attracted to another. Most Suras I know would have forcibly kidnapped her and stolen away in the night by now. If you want what you want, then why should you deny yourself that? Just court Vinata and sort out all the problems later.

"As for Gandharva, I don't think you need to worry about him too much. You'll see. When it comes time for his turn to fall in love, he'll be a thousand times worse than you, that hopeless fish. Sometimes I worry about you two way too much for my own good."

**S-C-N-D**

_N0 - approx. 700000 years_

**S-C-N-D**

"Vinata, you said you wanted to show me a—"

"Huh? Garuda, you're here already?" Golden-red hair swayed in the wind. Her back was facing him, but Garuda could tell immediately from the deep, virile voice that something was wrong. "Look!" she—he said, turning around and spreading his arms to reveal a very flat, toned chest. "I'm back and revitalized!"

Garuda wanted to cry.

Vinata took five steps forward and set a hand on his shoulder. The touch was rough again, masculine again, but it still didn't fail to set his heart racing at a speed that it should not have been racing at.

"Isn't it great?" he asked, stretching his tanned, red body. "Ah, it's been so long since I've felt this energized. You know, I think I'm going to go for a flight. Care to come join me?"

Garuda was still stricken by Vinata's sudden revelation, so stricken in fact that he stood stone still. He was afraid that if even a single one of his feathers moved, his knees would give way and he would collapse in silent anguish.

"Garuda?" Vinata took yet another step closer and leaned his face into his king's in an attempt to get his attention.

"I—uh, I'm going to visit Visnu," Garuda managed. All he was thinking at the moment was, _why are Vinata's features so much sharper? Why is Vinata's voice so deep? Why are Vinata's eyebrows so thick? Why is Vinata's face so… masculine?_

Vinata drew his face back, puzzled. "Well, okay. You're king. Do as you wish and all."

**S-C-N-D**

_N0 - approx. 700000 years_

**S-C-N-D**

As usual, whenever he wanted to find Visnu, Garuda never had to look for long. The Original God was lounging near the borders of his and Shuri's clans, a lush, tree-rich area with lots of bushes and undergrowth. As Garuda walked on that path, an olive haired man sitting on a fallen log by the road suddenly came into view. On Visnu's finger perched two white birds. They both turned their heads in Garuda's direction and chirped in turn.

Visnu lifted his hand and the birds fluttered into the sky. "Garuda!" he exclaimed, "it's so nice when the day comes that the last of your three closest friends seeks you out for a favour."

"I'm not asking for a favour. Not really."

Visnu wagged an objecting finger. "You want me to use Insight, don't you? Could this be about a very recent sex change by the lovely Vinata?"

At the name, Garuda's head drooped and his sword hit the ground with enough force to scare away flocks of birds from the nearby forest. Two hands flew up to cover his face in pain and defeat.

"I don't know Visnu. Tell me why it turned out like this. I thought I had a few hundred thousand more years to spend with her and then she—can you just tell me if I have any chance at all?"

"Garuda." Visnu put a comforting hand on the man's snowy head. "After our two billion year friendship, you still don't trust me?"

"It sure doesn't look good for me right now," he sighed.

"But the universe is still young. Garuda, you know just as well as any other Nastika how quick and transient feelings can be. So if you have them, you have to treasure them, not scorn them and pretend they're not there."

Garuda brushed white strands of hair away from his face to see a smiling Visnu. He sighed resignedly and bent to pick up his sword.

"You're not going to use Insight on me, are you?"

"No, I'm not," the olive haired man admitted, "not for the reason you think, though. I don't need to because I already know what's going to happen."

"And you are not going to tell me." Visnu's affirmation was the clamping of his lips. Sometimes his friend was annoying like that. Still lovable. But annoying, mysterious and frustrating. Garuda wished he could just skip a few million years until he got over this Vinata phase. "This had better be for the good of the universe, Visnu."

"If it helps matters, your kids will be heroes, or something along those lines."

His eyes shined hopefully. "My kids with Vinata?"

Visnu smiled. "Your kids."

Garuda gave him a look that told him he wasn't helping matters at all.

"Oh, don't worry, my old friend," Visnu dismissed with a wave of the hand. "You know me well enough. Just leave matters in my hands and I'm make sure that all's well ends well."

**S-C-N-D**

I think this is one of my favourite chapters. This fic is actually the biggest One Last God Kubera fic I have in my mind. All of my other stories coincide with it (which is not good, I know, since it makes me narrow minded).

Thank you for reading! Please leave a review!

-SCND


	7. The Mating Period

From hereon out, the perspective is going to alternate between Garuda and Vinata.

Disclaimer: There are many things in this world that do not belong to me. Kubera is one of them.

**S-C-N-D**

Courtship of a Phoenix

…

"Hold up a second, Garuda." Gandharva had his eyes closed in an almost painful expression. The thumb of his right hand rested underneath of his chin while two fingers traveled up the curve of his nose and ended at the knot that formed between his eyebrows. "So you're saying that you had two billion, eight hundred million years to fall in love, and you chose _now_?" he tossed back his head, green hair flowing like seaweed suspended in the water. His fangs were bared and there was obvious ire contained in his eyes. "Has your brain fallen out during one of your flights? Old friend, you know I'll support anything you do but good lord! Please don't tell me you steal Vinata's feathers and put them in your pocket."

Shuri just smiled and offered, "I think it's good that you're finally being honest to yourself."

Visnu raised a happy finger and chimed, "all you have to do now is spend the next few hundred thousand years convincing Vinata to return to female form."

Garuda stared at them for a long, hard minute. He did a brisk turn before launching himself off the cliff.

"I am not friends with you three anymore."

…

**Chapter Seven: The Mating Period  
**_N0 - approx. 420000 years_

_…_

"Vinata, don't you think Garuda's been touching you a lot more recently?"

A red man and a blue woman were sitting on the edge of a cliff overlooking colourful birds flying in circles beneath. Kalavinka was there to oversee her newest daughter who was still first stage, and since Cepphus had gone god hunting, Vinata chose to accompany his longtime friend.

"Huh?" he uttered disbelievingly. "No, not really. If this is a matter of power, Garuda and I have always touched each other freely."

"That's not what I'm talking about," she said with a knowing smile. "You touch him frequently and freely, but he never touches you back." She grabbed her chin in thought. "Before, he always had this look when you were around him like you were some kind of pesky insect he wanted to swat. You could clearly tell that he felt uncomfortable when you put your hands on his body."

Vinata stared at her blankly. "I don't get it. What's the difference?"

Suddenly, a mischievous glint appeared in Kalavinka's eyes. She grinned so widely that Vinata had to inch two shoulders away just to make sure that she wasn't going to_ accidentally_ knock him off the cliff or something.

"Why don't you find out yourself?"

He stopped. "Huh?"

"Touch him," she stated, gripping Vinata's shoulders with a very serious expression. "Touch him and I guarantee you he's going to lean towards you. It probably won't even be five seconds until he touches you back."

Vinata's brain was unable to process this absurd suggestion. He continued staring stupidly. "…What?"

Kalavinka rolled her eyes. "Don't make me hit you. You know, touch him, like this!" She pointedly poked Vinata on the shoulder six times. "But more gently, like casually brushing your shoulder past his or something."

Vinata narrowed his eyes and frowned, still unable to understand what Kalavinka was asking of him. "But that's so weird. I never brush his shoulders or do anything like you described…"

Kalavinka banged her head against her knees in frustration. "Okay, okay. Then, Vinata, how do you touch Garuda?"

The red man put a finger to his chin and stared skyward in thought. "Well, um, I punch him when I get angry? Like that one time!" he exclaimed, clapping his hands together at the sudden recall, "—that one time I was going to kill that green Ananta Rakshasa and then he swooped in from above and cut her in half before I could do anything. That conceited imbecile! He even had the nerve to offer me the body afterwards. I was so mad, I grabbed his body and flung him into the nearest mountain."

Vinata finished the tale proudly, even dusting his hands off to show Kalavinka his nice handiwork. When he saw Kalavinka's blank stare, he wrinkled his eyebrows and defended, "what? It was a spur of the moment thing. I didn't even know I was that strong. Besides, it's not as if Garuda could be hurt by a mere mountain. Much."

Kalavinka looked away and chuckled darkly. _Poor, poor Garuda…_ she thought, almost wincing at the image of her king's dismay. _I am so glad _I_ never fell for Vinata._ If only her stupid friend knew that Garuda had not been trying to best Vinata, but had done it in an effort to impress him.

"In the future, I think you should refrain from throwing Garuda into any mountains. It might hurt a little more than you think…"

Vinata's eyebrows lifted slightly. "Oh, did I break a few bones or something? Maybe I'll apologize when I'm in a good mood."

Kalavinka buried her face into her palms. "Vinata, you know what? Just forget it and do the touching thing I told you."

Vinata had a reluctant expression. "What? You're kidding. I'm not going to seek out Garuda for something so stupid."

"Do it!" Kalavinka ordered with a nasty glint in her eye.

Suddenly, a cold shiver passed from the tip of Vinata's head to the bottom of his taloned feet. "F-fine. Sheesh." He stood up, spread his wings and took off in the direction of the mountain where Garuda usually lurked with Shuri, Gandharva and Visnu.

**S-C-N-D**

_N0 - approx. 420000 years_

**S-C-N-D**

"Garuda, man… I've never had as much respect for you as I do now. I'm sorry for everything I ever said about Vinata. I'm sorry for everything I ever said about you. This feeling, it's so _good_ but it's so _terrifying_. And I—I don't even know what to do. It's like one day, she was Menaka and then, suddenly, she's _Menaka_."

"Gandharva, I completely understand."

"I know, right?" his blue friend cried, almost shedding tears of joy at their strengthened brotherhood. "I just—nothing makes sense to me right now!"

"Vinata threw me into a mountain a while ago."

"Oh, that's so cruel," Gandharva sobbed.

Garuda nodded sadly.

His friend wiped multiple trails of tears from his blue face. "When I go home today, I think I'll make a necklace of seaweed for her. Menaka always loved making necklaces and bracelets and wreaths of flowers. Do you think I should grow a new field of flowers for her in my territory and tell everyone to call it Menaka's Garden?"

"Does Menaka have the strength of a hundred Rakshasas?"

"No," Gandharva was still rubbing his eyes. "I don't think so… Why?"

"Oh, that's good. If she did, she might throw you into a mountain."

Gandharva paused, lifted his head up and removed his hands from his eyes. Garuda's drooping figure was becoming blurrier and blurrier by the second. With a sob, he launched forward and put comforting arms around his white haired friend. Thus, another round of moaning was started with Gandharva wailing and Garuda nodding in agreement to most of his relationship troubles while lamenting about his own with Vinata.

"Garuda, my good friend, my poor brother, let us drink our wistful spirits away."

With one cup in each Nastika's hand, they prepared to drink themselves into a drunken stupor.

From the bushes, another Nastika and an Original God were staring amusedly at their two hopeless friends. Visnu, as usual, had a complacent smile on his face. Shuri, on the other hand, shook her head at their hopelessness while at the same time grinning brightly because she had always known that Gandharva and Garuda would come to an understanding one day. Her tail wagged back and forth happily at Visnu's feet.

"So we have two lovestruck Nastikas on our hands," she commented. "What do we do with them now, Visnu?"

Visnu's smile broadened into a half grin. "Oh, I was just going to let them be but if you have any better ideas, I'm open to all suggestions."

Shuri glanced again at the white and blue hunched figures. "I don't think we should torture them too much."

"A little pain is good sometimes, especially for Nastikas who seldom feel strong emotions at all."

"You're right. I think I quite like the new Gandharva."

Visnu's grin suddenly broadened again, to the widest that Shuri had ever seen.

"Garuda!"

A blur of red and orange shot up from the ravine, blocking the sun for a split second. Visnu and the Nastikas all looked to their newest guest. Vinata stood on the highest point of the cliff. With the sun shining directly behind his head, he was a silhouette of beauty, of power.

Gandharva and Garuda sobered up immediately, with the latter taking an involuntary step forward and the former staying firmly rooted to the spot. Gandharva tugged on Garuda's sleeve to reassure him that whatever happened, his friends would still be there as support.

"What happens now?" Shuri whispered to Visnu.

There was no questioning the devious mood that the Original God was in. "You'll see."

Vinata looked around in wonder, shedding all of his feathers in a single moment. There were so many of them that Garuda really did contemplate sneaking one into his pocket while he wasn't looking.

"Funny, I swear this place used to be more desolate. Did things change around here in the last hundred thousand years?" Vinata asked before dismissing the scenery with a shrug. "Ah well, hey Garuda, come here."

Garuda went stiff.

"Okay, fine. I'll come to you."

Garuda went stiffer.

Vinata, carefree Vinata almost skipped down the dirt path toward him. Garuda was perspiring terribly in his nervousness. A thousand questions raced through his head. What did he want? Why was he here? Did he know? Oh goodness, oh goodness, he hoped that Vinata did not know about his… feelings. While Garuda acknowledged that it was more than a little crush or an infatuation, he still couldn't bring himself to admit that he loved Vinata.

Suddenly, Vinata grabbed his face with two red hands and Gandharva gasped in half shock, half horror.

"Here's the good part," Visnu muttered.

Garuda was sweating buckets.

"Okay," Vinata sighed exasperatingly. "Before you declare that I'm weird or ask me what the heck I'm doing, it's not my fault, okay? Kalavinka told me to do this. I don't know why she wants me to touch you so much but she just does, so let's just get this over with before she transforms to hunt down and freeze my tail feathers."

His eyes almost popped out of their sockets when Vinata stretched his cheeks out suddenly and painfully. With a foxy grin, he released Garuda and patted his face once. Subsequently, the red man darted around his figure, stroking his arm, poking his abdominals, yanking his feathers, and tickling his neck. Each time Vinata touched him, Garuda felt a few more tears well up in his eyes.

A few metres away, Gandharva cupped one hand around his horrified mouth and held the other out toward Garuda helplessly.

Shuri and Visnu were both shaking uncontrollably in an attempt to contain their laughter.

Just as Vinata reached for his mask, Garuda grabbed both of his wrists sharply and pulled them down with the strongest force he could summon.

"Stop," he ordered.

Hopelessly clueless, Vinata blinked thrice. He tilted his head to one side and scrutinized Garuda's face intently. Garuda's eyes were hard and dark, the darkest grey that he had ever seen them before. One could even say that he was a little angry, with his entire body twitching and his mouth congealed into a small but firm frown. Even his jaw clenched and unclenched subtly as if he could barely hold in his emotions.

"Huh," Vinata mused, snatching his hands away from Garuda's grasp, which turned out to be rather easy. "So Kalavinka was lying."

"What did Kalavinka say?" he almost growled.

"That you would lean into my touch or something," Vinata tried to recall. "And that you touched me more than you did before. I don't think it's anything unusual. You've been a much more bearable leader recently. Still a bad leader, but a bearable bad leader. I think you've actually become a decent enough guy for me to accept you as king."

Visnu and Shuri watched with slightly agape jaws as Vinata's words stabbed into Garuda's heart one by one.

Even after all this, the red man still had a foolish, oblivious grin on his face. He scratched his head while admitting, "but the way Kalavinka put it actually made it seem like you had feelings for me or something!"

Garuda lowered his head until his eyes and mask were covered by bangs. Now, he was the one shaking uncontrollably. Visnu and Shuri's smiles melted off their faces and they looked to each other with expressions of concern. After a nod from Visnu, both of them turned to take their friend away from the person causing him such pain.

But before either Shuri or Visnu could take a step, Gandharva stomped angrily toward Vinata. His eyes were dark and his face was grim, resemblant of a monster on a rampage.

"Oh, hey Gandharva. What's wrong? You look a little more irritated than usual."

To answer him, a blue foot kicked Vinata off the mountain.

**S-C-N-D**

And this is the point where Gandharva became a goner for Menaka. xD It's a huge time skip, but not much has happened, mainly Vinata hunting Ananta Suras and Garuda tailing him as he does.

Nastika relationships are rather awkward to write about because they can change their genders. There's no real homosexual or heterosexual love between two Nastikas. Of course, biologically only a male and female can actually have kids, but there's really nothing stopping them from liking someone of the same gender. Vasuki likes Sagara, for example, and they're both female as of the present. So I guess it doesn't make a difference to Garuda whether Vinata is male or female. He still likes Vinata either way. He just wants Vinata to be female so they could start a family. :P

Thank you for reading! Please leave a review!

-SCND


	8. Emotional Resonance

Second last chapter for this mass update. :D

Disclaimer: There are many things in this world that do not belong to me. Kubera is one of them.

**S-C-N-D**

Courtship of a Phoenix

…

Despite that Vinata had hated Garuda, he'd always been jealous of his six white wings. As loath as he was to admit it, they were absolutely beautiful. Maybe they had even been the first reason why he wanted to usurp his king so badly. A part of him hurt to see Suras gape at Garuda's wingspan in awe, whereas his own were dismissed whenever he took them out. He wanted to prove that he was just as collected, just as poised and as graceful as Garuda was.

But graceful and poised and collected… that was everything Vinata wasn't.

…

**Chapter Eight: Emotional Resonance  
**_N0 - approx. 310000 years_

_…_

A brown Rakshasa and a pink-red Upani both landed and morphed into their human forms at the same time. He was fourth stage and she was fifth stage. They were also the oldest descendants of the third strongest Garuda Nastika, Avifauna, and consequently put in charge of their clan's population control.

The pink haired female collapsed onto the floor as soon as she landed, moaning about how painful and dangerous it was to fly to different planets every fifty thousand years to get a Sura count. Her father, emotionless and unmoving, remained standing.

"What are the results?" he asked.

"Well, it's true," she revealed, stretching her two legs out in a very unladylike manner. "Our population surged in the last twenty thousand years. We now have twice the number of Upanis and thrice the number of Maras as we did fifty thousand years ago. It's so hard to count all these extra people." she moaned, childishly kicking her legs up and down while seated. "And the children never stay still so I have to run around, catching them first before asking who their parents are."

Ignoring her complaints, the Rakshasa narrowed his eyes critically. It really had gotten as bad as he'd predicted. These days, when he stared down into the ravines where Maras and first and second stage Upanis dwelled, he could see the diminishing space. Second stage Upanis were now inching their territory further and further up the mountains, eager to take on human form and escape the cluster.

"At this rate, Garuda-nim will have to make more mountains," he deducted. "We're already bordering on Ananta territory as it is. Inching any farther would be pushing it."

"Why should we care about the Ananta Suras?" hissed his daughter hotly. "I don't understand all this fuss about them! They're nothing but food!"

"Yes, but if we overstep our boundaries, Ananta and Vasuki will come looking for trouble. Manasvin is no easy opponent either."

"What are we afraid of?" she protested, leaping to her feet. "We have Avifauna-nim, Garuda-nim, and Vinata-nim on our side! We can take them easily!"

Her father sighed. He didn't make a habit of recalling his past mates, but for once he wished that he had chosen a less hotheaded female to mate with when he had been an ignorant third stage kid. "You don't realize that what Ananta and Garuda have right now is a rigid truce, do you? It's much more complicated when waging full out war. There's a reason why Nastikas of one clan rarely kill Nastikas of another. Avifauna-nim would have a fair chance against Manasvin, but even Vinata-nim would have a hard time fighting Vasuki without Garuda-nim's help. And, well, I don't need to explain to you the dynamics of Vinata-nim and Garuda-nim's relationship."

"Fine," she huffed, "but I'm telling you that our population's not going to stop increasing any time soon. More and more Garuda Suras have been losing their minds lately! A Mara made moony eyes at me last year! A Mara!"

Her father gazed into the clouds and pondered deeply, "what is Garuda-nim thinking? Is he trying to increase his forces? Could he possibly have a conquest in mind?"

But then he remembered feeling rather unusually attracted to a navy blue Rakshasa recently, a daughter of Kalavinka and Cepphus. She was surprisingly icy and cold, not the type he usually went for. It was just… this time, something was different, like he had absolutely no control over his emotions whatsoever.

_If the entire clan is acting like this, then chances are that it's emotional resonance from our king._

As if to provide testament, his daughter's eyes lingered lustfully for an entire eight seconds on a fourth stage yellow Upani flying by. With bulging eyes and a gaping mouth, she took out her wings in pursuit of him.

The brown Rakshasa gasped in realization. _Could it be… Garuda-nim, are you in _love_?_

**S-C-N-D**

_N0 - approx. 310000 years_

**S-C-N-D**

No Nastika—or Rakshasa, for that matter—wanted to sit and hold council for an entire month. As short of a time it was for the everlasting creatures, the dronish voices and useless speeches were almost worse than being tossed into an ocean with smelly Gandharva Maras. Before the first three days were over, many had already found a larger interest in preening tail feathers and trying to get that beautiful Nastika or Rakshasa across the circle to notice them.

The usual highlight of the Garuda Clan Council was the inevitable explosion of a violent argument between Vinata and Garuda. Usually it was Vinata who harshly and hotly criticized one of Garuda's suggestions. Then Garuda would calmly defend himself. Then Vinata would get heated and start screaming, insulting, spontaneously combusting. Then Garuda would calmly defend himself. Then Vinata would throw him into a mountain.

And while all this was happening, the Nastikas and Rakshasas would surreptitiously sneak away from the council site and fly back to their nests. When the whole thing blew over, they were dragged back one by one by Avifauna's sons and daughters. But even afterward, it was amusing to watch an angry Vinata ruffle Garuda's feathers. He'd do things like tell Garuda that his wingtips were on fire and then, when their king actually deigned to look, jump up and slam a fist to his head.

So this meeting was just like any others, where one king and one phoenix couldn't possibly call truce for a month to save their entire clan's lives.

Except Garuda was missing. No one knew why, but everyone had a feeling that Vinata had something to do with it.

"Stop bothering me, Avifauna!" a loud shriek pierced the air. "I don't know where he is. Probably making a mountain to please you insatiable monsters, happy?"

"… Vinata, I simply glanced your way."

"Can we stop talking about this?" sighed Kalavinka's navy blue daughter. "Garuda-nim's probably out doing important things."

Vinata snorted and burst out into unadulterated laughter. "Yeah, and I'm Vasuki in disguise. _What_ important things? That guy doesn't have important things to do. He's been following me and pestering me for the last twenty thousand years."

"But Vinata-nim, that's because he likes—"

Cepphus's large black claw slammed into the cyan Rakshasa that dared to open his mouth, immediately rendering him unconscious.

"Goodness gracious," sighed Vinata. "You couldn't have been a little gentler? Cepphus, I'm going to maim your pretty little face if Garuda orders me to take anyone to Gandharva to heal."

Before Cepphus could respond, a gust of wind signified the arrival of a new council member. The Rakshasas looked up to see if Garuda had finally decided to grace them with his presence. The Nastikas continued picking at dust particles that had been caught by their feathers; they knew from the weakness of the wind that Garuda had not yet come.

"Vinata-nim, Avifauna-nim, the results are in."

Avifauna's son bowed before his father. One of the more emotionless Nastika, Avifauna demanded all of his children to address him respectably and formally after they reached third stage.

"How bad is it?"

"It's just as we suspected, maybe worse. The Mara and Upani populations are completely out of control. Soon they'll be coming to the mountaintops and we'll have to kill off our own kin to make space."

Murmurs of outrage and disagreement surged through the crowd.

The brown Rakshasa cleared his throat. "My theory is that this is the result of emotional resonance. The Nastikas won't feel anything different but Maras, Upanis and some Rakshasas have definitely expressed more interest in finding mates."

"Emotional resonance? How can it be? Garuda-nim has never—"

"Really? But I thought they were just rumours."

"—that he and Vinata-nim are…"

"Oh my," Kalavinka's voice rose above her clansmen's. "It seems that Garuda's quite taken with someone in this clan."

Everyone turned to Vinata.

The red-orange Sura, who had been tracing masked faces into the dirt with a stick, suddenly felt tingling on the back of his neck. He stared up into several hundred faces of curiosity. "…What?"

"Vinata-nim," said Avifauna's son. "Forgive me for the bold suggestion, but it might be best for everyone if you turn female and—"

Vinata's face changed to one of ire as he shot straight at the brown Rakshasa. Several people were knocked aside and Avifauna's son himself was rendered immobile. The onlookers all thought for a moment that he would become nothing but an ashen clump of feathers.

"Garuda," the growl was low. "We don't make a habit of killing Rakshasas in the clan whenever we feel like it."

The brown bird whipped his head around to see Vinata gripping his king by the wrist. In Garuda's hand was a cackling ball of white energy, an inch away from making contact with his chestnut hair. The other Suras were momentarily stunned by the speed and stealth of their king. Almost like a wake up call, Garuda reminded them again why none of them, save Vinata, ever dared to challenge his authority.

The ball of energy disappeared.

"That little attack wasn't going to kill him," Garuda mumbled, hiding his eyes with his bangs sulkily like a child being scolded.

"Little, right," coughed Cepphus very conspicuously.

Vinata only looked at him sternly. "Garuda, you can't play with other Suras how you play with me and expect them to emerge unscathed. I am the _only_ one in this clan who can match you."

Grey eyes widened momentarily. Vinata still looked very upset with him, but there was an underlying tone in that sentence that brought an excited shiver down his back. For a second, the red man almost sounded possessive.

He was afraid his voice would crack if he said anything, so he just nodded.

"Glad you understand then," Vinata told him, a grin emerging on his face. He was about to turn when he suddenly stopped, reached forward and pressed one palm against Garuda's cheek, startling him and the entire clan. "Oh! Garuda, you have a little bit of dirt on your face here."

He gaped stupidly. "W-what?"

Vinata slammed a fist down on his head.

"Hey, unreliable king, you're already late as it is so at least pay a little attention to what's happening, will you? Kalavinka, what do we have after demographics?"

And the entire clan cried internally for Garuda's pain.

**S-C-N-D**

_N0 - approx. 310000 years_

**S-C-N-D**

Something amazing was happening in the mountains. Aside for the fact that one of Avifauna's sons so very nearly blew his cover, every single Garuda Sura seemed to be focused avidly on their king during the last day of council.

"As for Ananta, again, I don't think there's going to be much of a challenge in finding food…"

There was a strange tingling in his lower left wing.

"Their population is also steadily increasing, and just the other day, Shuri told me that there have been less Yaksha Suras in recent years…"

There it was again, on his upper right.

"Again, I remind you to keep first stage Rakshasas away from—"

Tingle.

"—especially Nastikas like Sagara, who have reputations for—"

Tingle.

Garuda turned agitatedly to his second wing on the left, where the most recent tingling occurred. Vinata, who was intently plucking strands of his feathers from their stems, had not yet noticed and continued to do it under his steel gaze.

Garuda cleared his throat.

Vinata looked up before jumping back. In his arms was a huge pile of white fluff, half fluttering to the ground as he raised one hand to scratch his head sheepishly.

Garuda raised his sword menacingly. "What are you doing?"

Vinata smiled. He grinned. He threw the pile of fluff into Garuda's face and shot into the air cheerfully, screaming, "meeting adjourned!"

At once, the sky was painted with dashes of vibrant colour as every Nastika and Rakshasa zealously flew away from the mountain of the council site. In the end, only a single white haired man remained on his rock.

_Alone again…_ Garuda sighed, eyes fluttering shut. _How much longer will it be like this?_

Except he wasn't. Because if he was alone, there wouldn't be two warm hands cupping his face. He wouldn't open his eyes to stare into another pair of crimson ones. He wouldn't be looking straight into the face of a red skinned man.

Vinata beamed. "Let's talk."

******S-C-N-D**  


The original line was "let's make a bet" but I quickly realized that wasn't going to work out.

So you remember how I said this was going to be sometimes from Garuda's point of view and sometime's from Vinata's? While Garuda's been lamenting about his misfortune, Vinata's been… doing… stuff.

Thank you for reading! Please leave a review!

-SCND


	9. The Agreement

Okay! That's it for today! Now half of the story is up for whoever stumbles upon it.

Trivia! Vegavis is the genus of a bird that's gone extinct in the dinosaur age.

Disclaimer: There are many things in this world that do not belong to me. Kubera is one of them.

**S-C-N-D**

Courtship of a Phoenix

…

At the end of the Seven Thousand Year War, Vinata and his supporters finally accepted Garuda as their rightful king. For a period of time, though Vinata was respected as the clan's second strongest Nastika, most of his duties were given to Avifauna for fear that he would take advantage of his position. However, the ostracism had not worked as Garuda intended and Vinata appeared content to be with just Kalavinka and Cepphus.

So content, in fact, that soon it was as if he bore no ill will toward Garuda at all. Only a few thousand years after a clash so great their clan almost tore in two, Vinata was slyly grinning beside him as they fended off regenerated gods together.

And Garuda thought for a fleeting moment how easy it was to mistake him for someone of the Ananta Clan.

…

**Chapter Nine: The Agreement  
**_N0 - approx. 310000 years_

_…_

Vinata might have told him to talk, but Garuda found it rather hard to for two very obvious reasons. One, Vinata was standing in front of him. Two, Vinata was holding his face.

Maybe the latter was actually a blessing in disguise because otherwise he was sure that the faint blush that formed on his cheeks would give him away, especially because his skin was pale white as opposed to Vinata's creamy caramel.

Vinata seemed to realize this as well because his hands quickly fell to his sides. It was rather strange because the red man was standing on higher ground, both physically and figuratively. Hadn't he loved belittling Garuda at every chance he got? Did something really change?

He couldn't risk getting his hopes high.

"What is there to talk about?" Garuda asked.

What was there ever to talk about between the two of them? No matter what, he just couldn't see the conversation taking a turn to his liking. Three hundred thousand years passed fruitlessly. He was still a man. Vinata was still a man. Obviously two male Nastikas could not mate and start a family, and he was pretty sure Vinata would choose Ananta any day over him anyway. Even if just to create a hundred thousand bird-snake hybrid Rakshasas to bring about his demise.

Vinata reached out another hand to grab his shoulder. Garuda had half a mind to state that his body was off limits if Vinata refused to be with him. The intimate but not really intimate touches were not only bad for his heart but occasionally his health as well.

"I don't know. What about Avifauna's son for example?"

"What about Vegavis?"

"Why don't you tell me. You're the one who almost killed him," replied Vinata. "Good thing I stopped you in time. He's not that bad looking for a spawn of the devil. Pretty damn smart too. Maybe I should mate with him."

Garuda never really liked that Rakshasa much. And now he had a reason.

"Sure," he said, trying to keep his voice steady. "Why not? It's your body to do as you wish and he's not going to die anytime soon. Feel free to turn female for him whenever you want."

It was hard enough for him to choke out the encouragement, so when Vinata didn't say anything, Garuda suddenly found himself holding back a bitter laugh. Only years of practicing his poise contained it long enough for him to turn and start trudging away. He wanted to take out his wings but his feet suddenly felt like they were glued the ground. And he wasn't going to fly lopsided in front of Vinata to exhibit how hopeless he was. Visnu did say that it'd be several hundred years until he convinced Vinata. Just exactly how many years?

No, Visnu was a completely different matter. In the first place, he didn't even tell Garuda whether he would succeed or not. Could his friend have purposely kept him in the dark to alleviate the pain of an eternally unrequited love?

"You know, it physically hurts me to see how much you're suffering because of me."

He froze in his tracks, unable to believe what he had heard for a moment. Then, when he was certain that it wasn't the wind playing tricks on him, Garuda considered all the possible outcomes of Vinata knowing his deepest secret. Will his lieutenant use it against him now? Knowing Vinata, he would probably suggest something ridiculous like Garuda becoming a female so that he could ascend.

It was one of his deepest regrets and agitations. Hadn't Vinata, as a woman, told Garuda that she would no longer chase after the throne? Yet not a million years had passed by and the words she had said that day—that day he so deeply cherished—meant nothing.

"If it truly bothers you that much then tell me not to do it." He could hear faint footsteps approaching his figure. He was scared of them. "Tell me not to be with Vegavis."

"And then what?" he asked. "If I tell you not to be with Vegavis, would that make you want to turn female for me? Would that make you want to be with me any more? You have already made it clear a long time ago that you do not belong to me."

What came next was slow and cautious. "You're right. I did say that, but things have changed since then. I don't belong to you… However, I would like to."

The statement was as quiet as Garuda's hair was white. Quiet and shy. Intimate. So very unlike Vinata that he turned around and stared into the face of the red man. It hid nothing. He couldn't see a blush through the tanned skin, but Vinata's eyes were shining and they were starkly resolute. He only ever had that look when the red man was genuinely determined about something.

Which was good, too. Garuda wasn't sure he could wait another couple hundred thousand years.

"I recall a certain Nastika telling me that I was a horrible leader."

"I wonder who that could be." Vinata's eyes were twinkling.

"I don't believe that you want me," he replied, and it was true. He so very desperately wanted to believe it, but the fact still remains that how Vinata acted around him for the past hundred thousand years said something completely opposite.

But wait, didn't it change a little? Just a little as the years progressed. A few hundred thousand years ago he couldn't care less if Garuda got blown apart by a Vritra Sura. But then Vinata said he was a decent guy. And Vinata stopped roughing his feathers. And he still did mean things to Garuda but they were more childish, more prank-like, almost like an attempt to get his attention. And hadn't Kalavinka told him that Vinata was tracing pictures of him in the ground during that meeting? When she first said that, Garuda thought he had been drawing all the ways he could clip off Garuda's wings slowly and painfully—or something along those lines.

"If you want to be mine, you'd have turned female by now."

"Oh, I was going to," he chippered, "but—"

But what? Garuda didn't like buts. Buts were bad; they were conditional, and he was not sure he was ready to strike a bargain with his lieutenant. Ever.

"I just didn't feel like it. It didn't feel_… _right."

And therein laid the root of all his anguish. How many times had he suffered at the hands of Vinata's "just didn't feel like it" mood?

"I wonder if you would ever turn female for me." Vinata had a hand around his chin. He was looking up, as if he were actually imagining it inside his head. "You'd be a beautiful woman."

He could kind of see where Vinata was going with this. It hurt. It hurt a lot to have his feelings trivialized and tossed around by the very person he feared would treat him this way. Vinata meant no harm. Garuda could see that. But Vinata did not share his interests in this relationship. To him, it was just a quick hookup. Garuda was someone he could have fun with for a few hundred thousand years and then leave as soon as it got dull. He was out for excitement, had always been out for excitement. He made that much clear enough when he refused to change genders.

"Forget it," sighed Garuda. "Come back to me when you've made an authentic decision." _If you can actually make one_, he added mentally to himself.

A hand grabbed at his wrist just as he was about to take off. The grip was strong enough to ground him without a great struggle.

"Wait."

He waited.

"I'm sorry," Vinata murmured, staring into he ground. "I didn't mean to come across as that kind of person to you."

Garuda stared unblinkingly at him. "You've always been that kind of person. I've never complained."

"I know how much you go through to put up with me. Will you believe me this one last time when I tell you I have a reason for stalling?"

Garuda waited, but Vinata was clearly unwilling to delve into the reason.

"How long will I wait?" he asked.

"Um…" Vinata was tugging at his sleeve. "Until either one of us changes gender, I guess. The first one to turn female stays female."

For a second, he wondered if it was Vinata's way of hoodwinking him to relinquish his status as king. He avoided Garuda's gaze, opting to stare at the hard ground instead. The king was not a fool. He knew that there was something off about the suggestion. In a sense, Vinata was asking for his trust, for him to wholeheartedly believe that his lieutenant would not hurt him.

"You know that I have no choice but to agree," he said grudgingly, pulling his arm from the red man's grasp. Truthfully, he only did so because there was no possible way he would turn female as the king of the clan, no matter how Vinata tempted him. There was too much duty and responsibility that weighed upon his shoulders.

"I'm sorry."

"I don't resent you for it." After all, he'd waited his entire life. It could only get easier with reciprocated feelings. Visnu said several hundred thousand years. Somehow, Vinata was going to be his wife before the end of the millennium.

**S-C-N-D**

_N0 - approx. 290000 years_

**S-C-N-D**

"Will Shuri be joining us to hunt Chandra?"

Garuda spared a glance in the direction of the mountain where he usually met with Gandharva, Shuri and Visnu. Right now, it was completely empty, but Shuri had very eminently expressed her displeasure at the fact that Gandharva and Garuda were more occupied with wooing mates than spending time with their friends. This would be a good opportunity to relive old times.

"Most likely," was the answer that he gave Avifauna. "I'll stay behind to get confirmation with her."

"You do that," he said, spreading two large chocolate-brown wings. "Well then, I'll be going ahead."

Garuda nodded as Avifauna took off, leading a flock of Nastikas, Rakshasas and Upanis that trailed after him. About an eighth of Garuda's clan left for the god hunt every twenty thousand years. Not all of them were there for Chandra. Each Sura had a separate target, but for the most part they would cooperate to take down whichever one god that the hunt was focused on.

As their figures traveled beyond the sky into space, Garuda too, prepared for takeoff. He barely launched himself into the air when all three wings from his right side were shredded, bring him off balance. He had no choice now but to land.

Which he did so in front of a grinning black haired, black eyed man whose right arm was half-transformed into a long, feathered bone with ten sharp, consistently-spaced spikes along it.

"Where are you going, my king?" Cepphus asked.

Garuda raised his sword guardedly. His eyes narrowed at the fiend. He would rather not fight Cepphus since Cepphus was one of Vinata's closest friends, but at the same time he couldn't let this mutinous behavior slip without consequence.

To his surprise, Cepphus lowered his arm. It slammed to the ground with enormous vigor, bringing dust and rocks into the air, as well as echoing a huge bang across the Garuda Clan territory.

_Just what I need,_ the king thought grudgingly, _the rest of the clan to be informed of altercations between Nastikas _again_._

When the dust cleared out, two Nastikas emerged. Cepphus's eyes still had a bloodthirsty glint. But this time, Kalavinka was standing beside him with a mediatory hand around his shoulder. Garuda did not fail to notice that her other arm had also been transformed—a solid limb that parted into three razor sharp feather blades at the tip. When she was male, a long time ago, there had been five and they were significantly larger.

"We can't let you leave unless you promise to become Vinata's wife," chirped Kalavinka. Though they were on different sides of the battle, unlike Cepphus, she bore no enmity towards him.

"Did Vinata put you up to this?"

"Don't worry about it," Cepphus told him, taking one step closer. Kalavinka's arm squeezed warningly on his shoulder.

All in all, it looked like Vinata's friends weren't particularly out to hurt him. Cepphus might have been, but as long as Kalavinka was there, there was no way he'd attack. Garuda could easily fight either one of them solo, but two Nastikas together was a totally different story.

If they thought they could bully him into relinquishing his throne, though, they had another thing coming.

"Okay," he said, surprising the two of them for a second. Garuda dropped his sword and contently seated himself on the softest rock he could find. "I just have to stay here right? It's not a big deal. I can miss out on one god hunt."

Cepphus and Kalavinka looked rather baffled.

"Uh—that is—yeah, sure you can," she finally said, shedding her battle armor.

Cepphus retained his form for a while but eventually transformed back once it became apparent that Garuda wasn't planning to secretly escape in any way.

The other two Nastikas also sat down, eyes trained on him like hawks, noting his every twitch and jerk.

_So you want to play dirty_, Garuda thought through half-closed eyelids. _Then I shall just assume that there are no rules in this game._ That brought a pleased smile to his face.

**S-C-N-D**

_N0 - approx. 280000 years_

**S-C-N-D**

"Shuri, Gandharva."

His three friends were already sitting and drinking when Garuda landed. Gandharva was frowning a little and complaining that Urvasi was giving him a hard time about visiting Menaka too much.

"So the day has come," Visnu remarked with a delighted grin. "See, my friend? I told you that all's well ends well!"

"What's up, Garuda?" Gandharva asked.

"I have a favour to ask of you."

They both gave him their undivided attention. Garuda asking for favours was very unlike him. Something was off, especially since his face was almost scrunched up into a foolish smile.

This all came as no surprise to Visnu. His shirt slipped further down his shoulder as he exclaimed, "I'm surprised you even took this long, Garuda!"

"Is this about Vinata?" asked Shuri, glancing back and forth between Garuda and Visnu.

Garuda had a mischievous smile. "Vinata will turn female for me. We're going to make him."

**S-C-N-D**

_N0 - approx. 260000 years_

**S-C-N-D**

Three large snakes fell to the ground, writhing in pain. One by one, a huge, flaming bird crushed the life force out of them. The rest of the snake throng had fled, but Vinata wasn't complaining. Three would be enough to sate his hunger for a while yet.

He devoured them quickly, gulping down what large chunks of flesh he could tear with his beak. Whatever food scrappings left on the bones, he let the pack of Yaksha, Gandharva and Garuda Suras finish. Come to think of it, there were a lot more Yaksha and Gandharva Suras tagging along in the last thirty thousand years. He wondered if something happened to his own clan.

Finished and satisfied with his meal, Vinata shrank into human form before crudely wiping the smears blood from his lips. He grinned a toothy grin at his entourage and encouraged them, "you guys can feed all you want now!"

None of them moved.

Vinata raised one red eyebrow. "Come on, everyone!" he urged, inviting them forward with his arms. "Eat! Look at this!" he cried, pointing to the strips of flesh still clinging onto the Ananta Upanis. "It's wasteful!"

Still, they remained frozen.

"Don't make me force food down your throats."

Finally, one purple Yaksha Sura stepped forward very hesitantly. She had been in Sura form for the hunt but transformed into her human form as she approached Vinata. He was a little confused by the unusual behaviour.

"Vinata-nim!" she cried, suddenly latching onto his arm. As a second, almost third stage Rakshasa, she was quite small in size but had an iron grip.

Startled, Vinata took a step back.

"Vinata-nim!" she cried again, staring up with a pout and big, watery innocent eyes. "Please turn female for Garuda-nim! Please!"

Vinata was dumbfounded. "I—uh—"

"Please!" Every other Sura around him started chrousing in unison. "We beg you, Vinata-nim! We love you and Garuda-nim very much and we want both of you to be happy!"

They edged in closer and closer, surrounding and rendering Vinata immobile. Several Suras were already tugging at his body, and more of them giving him pleading eyes and drooping ears.

"We've seen you as a female! You're so lovely! Very beautiful."

"You can have lots of Rakshasa children! And they'll all be as pretty and strong as you, Vinata-nim!"

"Do it! Do it! Garuda-nim will be so surprised! Garuda-nim will be speechless."

"Even Shuri-nim wants you two to be together."

"Gandharva-nim too!"

"PLEASE, VINATA-NIM!" they all cried, pressing closer to his body.

"Ahhhhhhhh!" he cried, struggling to spread his wings and shoot up into the air for a quick escape. "Stop! Stop! If you don't eat now, the Chaos Clan demons will come and steal your food."

He had to shake a clinging Gandharva Sura off his foot and then pry another Garuda Sura from his left wing.

"Vinata."

Garuda, wretched Garuda was floating leisurely in the air just above his head, evidently smirking at the predicament he had been placed in. Vinata scowled and flared his feathers at his king.

All the while, small Gandharva child climbed up his shoulders and was tugging at his hair. The kid saw something white. Curiously, he pulled it out. A feather.

"What's this?"

"Ah!" Vinata cried, quickly snatching it with the slight tint of a blush on his cheeks. "Don't touch that." He stroked the perfect feather, making sure that it hadn't been damaged.

Garuda blinked, secretly elated. "When'd you take that?"

"The day I was pulling feathers from your wings," he admitted meekly. Suddenly, the vicinity raised ten degrees from the heat Vinata was unknowingly emitting in his embarrassment. Dehydrated, the Gandharva Suras shrank back and the Yaksha and Garuda Suras soon followed.

Garuda landed after reaching into the edge of his wing and pulling out a bigger, prettier feather. "If you wanted a feather from me, all you had to do was ask," he told Vinata while presenting it.

"You weren't supposed to know I had that. It makes me look bad," he sighed, bangs lowered as he conceded to take the feather from Garuda's hands.

"You'll be my queen one day, yeah?"

Vinata twirled the stem of the feather in between his index finger and thumb. He looked up at Garuda and smiled. "Keep dreaming, yeah?"

**S-C-N-D**

Um, I think the second turning point is next chapter, if I'm not mistaken. I'll leave it to you however you want to interpret that.

Thank you for reading! Please leave a review!

-SCND


	10. Indefinitely Gone

I have four-ish more chapters now. Just need to tweak them a little. This entire story is like a first draft. I might still go back and change some minor details. Not much though, I hope.

Disclaimer: There are many things in this world that do not belong to me. Kubera is one of them.

**S-C-N-D**

Courtship of a Phoenix

…

Was it a blessing or a curse that Nastikas could live until the end of the universe? For one to be in existence for so long that his memory became akin to an endless subway line, death was but a trivial matter.

He'd been through everything—anxiety, anger, frustration, happiness, love, hate… There were no more emotions left for him to feel and nothing more this universe could offer. As he walked along this endless road, he barely even noticed the several thousand blood-red eyes staring, waiting on him.

…

**Chapter Ten: Indefinitely Gone  
**_N0 - approx. 170000 years_

_…_

"How much longer are you going to wait? It's clear to me that you're completely infatuated with him. Half the time I feel like I'm talking to an empty shell of my best friend."

Vinata was twirling a snow white feather in between his fingers and smiling foolishly while he did. He wouldn't even have heard what Kalavinka said had she not slapped him violently on the back and repeated the question.

"What does Cepphus think?" he asked, frowning, sticking the feather back into his hair.

"I'm sure he's fine with it by now."

"Where is Cepphus?"

Kalavinka shrugged, which was rare for the couple. Usually one always knew where the other was. Vinata once asked them if it was tiring or too intrusive on their individual privacies, but the two birds only gave her blank stares while shaking their heads slowly.

"A few weeks ago, he went out to hunt for some food. He's probably lost in some weird corner of the universe."

"Maybe we should call Visnu to bring him back," Vinata joked. "Or Shiva, or Kali, or Brahma. Maybe Brahma can make him a compass. I heard that her bubblegum can turn into anything, literally."

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Kalavinka asked with raised eyebrows. Vinata, as a man, had a knack for pondering the weirdest things. But then again, Kalavinka as a man was rather silent and stony, not at all like how she'd changed after turning female and marrying Cepphus.

Suddenly, both of them felt a disruptive presence, one not of a Garuda Sura's, in their lands. Kalavinka stood up, alert. Vinata squinted his eyes in the direction of the horizon, where the disruption came from. A second later, a pink horse with multiple grey horns on his back galloped from the clouds at a breakneck speed. He didn't pay much heed to the inferior Garuda Suras that were completely confused as to what a member of the Kinnara Clan was doing in their lands. He headed straight for the red and blue Nastika.

"Shess doesn't usually travel at that speed…" Vinata observed, frowning.

Kalavinka tilted her head with a questioning look. "He doesn't usually come here at all. The Kinnara Clan doesn't like to dirty their hooves with our affairs… unless you count that one time he drew you that defective map."

"…I was wrong to ever trust him. Airavata's face wouldn't leave my head for millenniums."

Kalavinka shot him a look. "So that's why you kept snickering incessantly at our last assembly."

Vinata smiled sheepishly.

The ground shook for a brief second as Shess landed. He remained in Sura form until he left the inferior Suras' territories, mostly for convenience. Very few Maras and Upanis knew of reputable Suras in other clans because of their short lifespan and probably would not hesitate to attack his human form. Shess didn't want the hassle. He wasn't there to pick a fight.

Instead, he strode towards Vinata and Kalavinka with half his face shadowed by his hoodie and a very eminent frown. Their joking environment evaporated immediately upon his arrival. As he approached them, he bowed his head further so that his face was completely covered by a mop of pink hair.

"Vinata-nim, Kalavinka-nim, my deepest apologies. A Rakshasa of my clan found a body of a Garuda Nastika in the Chaos Clan's territory."

Only then did Vinata notice the black feather he had been holding the entire time—a disheveled feather, with barely anything but the bloodstained spine intact. Shess dropped it, letting it flutter to the ground. Kalavinka's eyes followed it all the way down.

She was shell shocked. Paralyzed. Her ghastly white face froze in one expression: jaw agape, eyes widened in horror, eyebrows curving in. She fell to her knees, eyes still fixated on the feather. One trembling hand reached out to touch and hold it. She looked up at Shess again, hopeful that he was lying, that somehow he was hiding a sly smile under his hoodie. But all she saw was a mirror of her own face. Regretfully, he closed his eyes and shook his head. It was a lost cause.

"No!" she cried. "No! Where is he?"

Four wings sprung out of her back and she shot up into the air as fast as a raining comet. All was silent in the land as the Suras mourned for the death of a Nastika. A second later, the sun vanished, obstructed by the svelte body of a gigantic blue bird. Vinata watched as Kalavinka flapped her wings once before shooting forward faster than the human eye could follow. Vaguely, he saw her heading northwest, the direction Shess approached them from.

"Is he there?" Vinata asked the pink man.

Shess said nothing but gave a slight nod. It was all the assurance he needed.

Vinata extended his wings in pursuit of Kalavinka. Before long, the land was shadowed for a second time by another gigantic bird, slightly bigger than the first one. From space, he could spot Kalavinka's blue figure ahead even though she was almost travelling at the speed of light. Vinata shot forward after his friend. Being stronger and thus faster than Kalavinka in her female form, he caught up in a matter of minutes.

"Kalavinka."

Silence.

"Kalavinka, answer me."

"…"

Vinata growled and nudged the blue bird's body with one of his talons. "I need to know that you're not going to do something stupid."

"I need to see him." The voice was squeaky, small and trembling like she was crying on the inside.

She probably was.

Two billion, nine hundred million years was a long time to live for a Nastika. Perhaps only a handful, such as Vritra and Kinnara, found their life companions near the very beginning of the universe. Others had many lovers or simply did not pursue romance at all. Even Vinata developed an interest in romance only very recently. For Kalavinka, who had been married to Cepphus for two billion years, to hear of her mate's death… Vinata couldn't even begin to comprehend the pain that she was feeling.

"There might not be much of him left…" If the Chaos demons killed and ate him, all he could imagine was a very gruesome scene—a skeleton with few strips of flesh and feathers left dangling from it. Vinata shook his head, knowing that Kalavinka would do something utterly brash and reckless if she saw that.

As soon as he saw her expression, he knew it'd been the wrong thing to say.

"I don't care," she huffed stubbornly. "I just need to see him."

After that, they continued on in silence. Once in a while, he could hear Kalavinka's lamented sobs beside him. Every time, Vinata reached out the tip of a wing to graze her body and let her know he was there if she decided to break down and stop flying all of a sudden. The farther they flew, the more uncoordinated her four wings became. When they finally reached the Chaos territory, Kalavinka was already stumbling in flight.

"Kalavinka…"

She shook her head before making a dangerous, sharp dive. Clenching his beak, Vinata dove after her. He was afraid that she would crash head first into the ground but as the more agile of them two, she swerved up at the last moment whereas he had a clumsier landing.

"Ow…" he muttered as his head bumped against the floor three times.

She hadn't the mood to laugh.

There was no mistake about it now. From where they were, they could clearly see a large, inanimate body just a little further into the dark and desolate lands. One of Cepphus's wings was still intact since there was little to eat underneath the feathers. The rest of him looked like… Well, it looked like the bodies of Ananta Suras after Vinata was done with them.

With a silent cry, Kalavinka sprung forward and wrapped her body around Cepphus's bony ribcage. There, she fell to her knees and sobbed loudly, uncaring that the Chaos demons would hear and laugh at her, uncaring that they might spring out and attack at any given second.

Vinata also flew closer. Unlike Kalavinka, he stopped two wingspans back. There, he morphed into human form and looked up at the horrific sight. Cepphus's death took a while to hit him. At first, he was reluctant to believe that Shess was telling the truth, even if the Kinnara Clan was neutral. But now that the mangled body of Cepphus was right in front of his eyes…

Waves of shivers passed through his body one by one. His gut twisted tightly. In fact, it felt like some invisible force was continuously squeezing and compressing every single one of his organs. The more Vinata looked at Cepphus, the more it made him sick. He ducked his head until his bangs extended well over his eyes. The world was black in their shadow. Black like Cepphus's feathers. Like his eyes. And his hair.

Had Vinata been in female form, he was sure he would have blubbered as badly as Kalavinka had.

**S-C-N-D**

_N0 - approx. 170000 years_

**S-C-N-D**

"Is it true then?"

A hand was moving in soothing circles on Vinata's shoulder. As soon as Garuda heard about Cepphus's death, as soon as he had seen Vinata's hard, stony expression, he felt like he had to do something to comfort him. It would have been easier if Vinata was female. He would have just taken her in his arms. But he did promise to back off until their agreement was fulfilled. So far neither of them even came close, and now, this of all things…

"Cepphus died," stated Vinata candidly. "The Chaos Clan killed him. There's nothing we can do about it."

Garuda retracted his hand and nodded, though Vinata couldn't see it because his back was turned to his king. The Chaos Clan was one that all Nastikas of all clans unanimously hated. Because they had been created by Kali, their power was significantly different than the power of those named by Visnu. And Taraka, while weak, would never stop regenerating or die like the other kings.

"What about Kalavinka?" Garuda asked softly.

Vinata turned, a maelstrom of emotions flashing across his iris. "I don't know," he admitted with tightly clenched fists. "I have no idea what Kalavinka is thinking. She's not talking to me anymore. She's not talking to anyone anymore. I only ever see her sitting on the edge of cliffs and staring nostalgically at places she and Cepphus used to spend their time together. I'm scared that she's going to reach a foolish conclusion—like committing suicide or massacring Chaos Clan for revenge."

"The Chaos Clan cannot be massacred. They'll always regenerate."

"Exactly," sighed Vinata. "She'll eventually run out of vigor and they'll probably kill her."

"It's tragic, isn't it? When someone you care for so much has such cloudy judgement you're constantly in fear of something bad happening to them," Garuda said through half-lidded eyes, "just like all those years, Vinata. All those years I followed you into Ananta's territory."

"That's different."

Garuda couldn't weigh what he felt for that Half against what Kalavinka felt for Cepphus. It was as astronomically different as the size of a Mara and a Nastika; Vinata's feelings weren't barely a spark in comparison to Kalavinka's raging fire. In the years that passed, his Half had become a mere loving memory. He wasn't sure Cepphus would ever be just a memory for his wife.

But Garuda, who had never had a relationship, simply couldn't understand it, so Vinata chose to divert the topic with an attempted smile.

"I do appreciate the effort though. I admit that it used to be annoying at first, but it became nice to have a hunting companion other than the Upanis and Rakshasas once in a while. Albeit, you didn't really do anything but watch half the time…" He closed his eyes and sighed. "I suppose now that Cepphus is gone, I can finally assume my female form."

Garuda's eyes widened and he took a step forward in excitement. Almost immediately, a wave of guilt crashed over him and he stepped back again. What was he doing, feeling almost_happier_ now that Cepphus was dead? In the meantime, Kalavinka and Vinata were mourning deeply for the loss of a very important friend.

But be that as it may, he still couldn't deny himself this elation in the end. "So it was all for him…"

Vinata's sharp eyes snapped to his face. "What did you think?"

"I—" he thought that Vinata wouldn't carry through with the promise. He thought Vinata was going to keep him waiting until the end of the universe, or at least until he got tired enough to take the initiative of changing genders.

The stern look softened into a tentative smile. "It's okay. Given our history, I really didn't expect you to have that much faith in me. It's honestly more than enough that you're willing to wait thousands of millenniums for us. I got tired of waiting myself. I was going to ask for his permission but I never got a chance.

"Don't give me that look, Garuda. I often try to convince myself that Cepphus has nothing to do with you and I. But then I remember how loyal he's always been to me, sometimes even more so than Kalavinka. Wouldn't it be unfair for him to trust me for a billion years only to lose me to the very man he hated? Suppose Shuri or Gandharva told you out of the blue that they've been secretly hunting our kin. Wouldn't it be betrayal of the worst kind?"

Garuda found that he had no answer for that. There was no question that Vinata was a deviant and a trickster. Garuda had known it for billions of years and still, not once did he question or try to delve into _why_ Vinata acted the way he did. Indeed, he was constantly faced with dilemmas just like any other Nastika. While Garuda did not fully support his lieutenant's decision to withhold his feelings from Cepphus, what Vinata said had merit. What would Cepphus have done if he found one of his closest friends fraternizing with the enemy?

"Is that why you made those conditions? Because you wanted to give him the illusion that you would become king?"

Vinata looked hurt. "Why didn't you believe me when I said that I no longer had intention of stealing your throne? I may not be the trustworthiest of Suras but I do my best to honour my promises. Just because I'm male doesn't mean that I'm a different person."

Garuda felt heat rush to his face in was a mix embarrassment and shame. He shuffled his feet in discomfort and replied, "I wanted to. I really did, but I just couldn't. What choice did I have but to assume the worst case scenario? Visnu prophesized that there'll come a day when you'll sit on my throne whenever you wish and your actions have been quite supportive of that prophecy."

Vinata furrowed his eyebrows until a knot appeared just above the bridge of his nose. "That?" he half snorted. "That was the most ridiculously ambiguous prophecy I've ever heard in my entire life. Tell me, Garuda, what's stopping me from flying over and sitting there right now?"

"Me?"

"And would you stop me after hearing a prophecy like that?"

Finally realizing the flaw in Visnu's words, Garuda blinked in surprise. "No, I wouldn't." Of course he would let Vinata sit on his throne if Vinata asked. He'd _want_ to fulfill the prophecy so Vinata couldn't do it himself. He just never thought that Vinata would surrender his chance at becoming king to such a peaceful alternative.

A hand settled on his shoulder. "Don't worry about it," Vinata told him with a toothy grin. "I also mulled over it for a good couple hundred thousand years. I didn't figure out what he really meant until everyone in the clan was willing to mate with anyone who had wings. By the way, how's that problem coming along?"

Garuda averted his eyes and coughed.

"Visnu said that I would sit on the throne but he never told me I'd be king. He probably meant that I'd sit and rule alongside you as your queen."

"Oh."

That was really all he could manage. Really. Anything more and he was afraid that sunshine, flowers and rainbows would start spurting from his mouth.

While he was still off in a daze, Vinata reached into the pocket of his maroon skirt and pulled out an orange feather. Since Garuda still had trouble registering anything around him, Vinata took his hand and wrapped his fingers around its stem. Only then did he look down and notice the feather. His eyes widened.

"Not long now," ensured Vinata with soft pats on his arm. "If you let me be until Kalavinka finishes mourning, I promise I'll return as a woman."

He nodded.

**S-C-N-D**

_N0 - approx. 160000 years_

**S-C-N-D**

"Vinata."

For the first time that he approached her in many years, Kalavinka actually swiveled to face him. It was also at this point that Vinata noticed something crucially wrong. Wings. Kalavinka had wings. She also had a sad smile on her face.

He gasped. "No!"

"I'm going to leave," she mumbled, eyes trained on the ground. "I can't take it anymore."

"No!" Vinata cried louder, running towards her.

"I can't," she sobbed with two hands obscuring her face. "I need to be alone. I can't stay and watch so many people of our clan laugh with their families or while knowing _I'm_ the reason why you can't be together happily with Garuda. I'm putting a damper on everyone's mood. You don't know how I feel, Vinata. I'm so bitter every single day that I don't even know myself anymore. If I don't leave, I think I'm going to become crazy and obliterate everything in these lands."

"I'll come with you!" he spurted, taking a step forward so that she was right before him. "I won't leave you alone, Kalavinka, not when you're like this. This isn't the way things are supposed to be."

He embraced her shaking body while she sobbed into her hands. The last time Kalavinka cried like this was after seeing her husband's body. Vinata's jaw stiffened. He didn't know what to do or how to comfort her anymore. It always seemed so easy when Garuda had done it to him.

"There, there," he assured awkwardly, patting her feather coat. When she only sobbed harder, he sighed and looked hopelessly into the skies.

What he saw made his eyes widen. Garuda and Avifauna. On top of the mountain adjacent to theirs. Garuda was staring down at them with mixed feelings. Avifauna was just staring. Vinata suddenly felt like someone punched him hard in the ribs. He looked pleadingly into Garuda's eyes but by then, they both realized the inevitable outcome and that neither of them had the power to change it.

_Stay_, the grey eyes begged. _Don't go, Vinata. Stay with me._

Vinata painfully broke eye contact to glance down at Kalavinka's face. "I won't leave you," he promised her with a conflicted smile.

She nodded tearfully, still rubbing at one eye as she jumped into flight and surged above the atmosphere. Vinata waited until she was well out of sight before he looked back.

Garuda was still staring at him with a pleading expression.

He swallowed a lump in his throat. _I'm sorry. You know I love you, but Kalavinka's more important._

With eyes shut painfully, two red wings sprung out of his back before he shot up after Kalavinka. There one moment and gone the next, he was so fast that Garuda would have missed it had he not kept his eyes unblinkingly fixed on Vinata's figure. Even after Vinata departed, he still had trouble getting it into his head that his lieutenant was gone.

Gone. Indefinitely gone.

Garuda looked longingly into the sky where, instead of a man and a woman, there were now two huge birds. Avifauna must have thought that he would also chase after them because there was a firm hand on his shoulder forcing him into the ground.

"You can't go after them," the brown Nastika told him, "not as the king."

"Wouldn't it be beneficial for you if I did?" questioned Garuda. "With the first, second and previously third strongest Garuda Nastika gone from here, you'd have no one thwarting you if you took the throne."

Avifauna narrowed his eyes. "My king, you have it wrong. _Everyone_ would thwart me. Truthfully, I'd rather turn female than become king. It's not a responsibility that I want."

Six white wings materialized before stretching to full size and forcing Avifauna's hand off of Garuda's shoulder. Garuda gripped his sword tightly and bent his knees to jump.

"Garuda!" Avifauna growled warningly.

"Relax," the king assured just before shooting off into space, "I am not foolish enough to pursue those who do not want to be pursued."

There was a scowl on Avifauna's face as the white haired man disappeared beyond the clouds. _Then what were you doing, chasing after Vinata for all these years?_ Just as he was also about to launch into space to bring his king back, a planet suddenly exploded.

There was no sound to be heard. In space, sound didn't travel. But everyone in the Garuda Clan saw it. They broke out into whispers and searched the sky attentively. Suddenly, there was a cry and a point. Before long, everyone was staring at a humongous white bird that skipped from planet to planet so swiftly it looked like all the body masses he touched simply shattered into a million pieces.

_I waited _so _long_.

The thought was scathing. He knew he was close to insanity, but a few barren planets could pay the price for the untimely domino of unfortunate events that had to take place just when Vinata _finally_ agreed to be with him. And perhaps when he was done, it would no longer sting so ruthlessly—the fact that Vinata had chosen Kalavinka over him in the end.

**S-C-N-D**

Well… plot progression, check. Guess which Nastika makes an appearance next chapter. :)

Thank you for reading! Please leave a review!

-SCND


	11. When the Snowball Comes

Okay, minimal editing for this one, thank god. Editing is so cumbersome and at times it can take longer than writing itself. Thank god I didn't have to scrap and rewrite bits and pieces yet.

Disclaimer: There are many things in this world that do not belong to me. Kubera is one of them.

**S-C-N-D**

Courtship of a Phoenix

_…_

A yellow Ananta Nastika was coiled almost three times around a moon. It snapped its fangs at a red bird hovering above. The bird jumped back nimbly each time, always only narrowly avoiding the poisonous bites. He was at an advantage. The snake had been bleeding for ten days and had punctured beak marks all over its leathery skin. Vinata kept her occupied during this time, never failing to prevent her from recovering her vigor. He was patient when he needed to be. He could wait however long it took for this vermin's death.

"Ananta will take revenge on your clan!" she screamed scathingly.

"…"

He swooped down once more to strike at her neck. This time, his beak pierced right through the leathery skin into her jugular and flesh. Gruesomely, he ripped out all of her arteries, veins and muscles in one jerk.

…

**Chapter Eleven: When the Snowball Comes  
**_N0 - approx. 61000 years_

…

Snakes were not welcome here. These lands weren't suitable for them. Navigating mountains and skies had never been the forte of the Ananta Clan, even for Suras with wind and sky attributes. The dizziness of high altitudes made most of the earth dwellers beg to crawl back into a dark and cozy nook in the earth. And the sheer amount of Garuda Suras in these lands—despite the absence of some of the strongest Nastikas—was enough to scare one into shedding his skin.

But Ananta walked through the Garuda stronghold as if they were his own lands.

The Garuda Clan would not bow down to him? He'd make them bow.

Their Rakshasas dared to attack him? He'd strike them dead.

And if Garuda should refuse to face him personally? Well, he would simply obliterate Sura by Sura until he reached the white haired man's very own throne.

Just as he was casually ascending a mountain, another red Rakshasa shot forward, making him frown. Had they not learned their lesson yet? How shameful for the Superior Suras of Garuda's clan. Even the Maras and Upanis down below knew to willingly part for him after he dauntingly blasted a path clear for himself. After a single calculated strike, the Rakshasa fell below the clouds into a deep chasm where Ananta's poison would kill him in mere hours if he wasn't tended to properly.

"Ananta." His name came from the mouth of a brown man, a Nastika with folded arms standing two mountains away, "that was my second stage son. He did not deserve to be killed when you have simply deflected so many before him."

Ananta narrowed his eyes and cupped the small image of Avifauna with his hand. "That may be so, but given our current circumstances, you are _not_ in a position where you can make requests of me. Your clan should be grateful that it is a Rakshasa and not a Nastika that I've just slain. I am an honourable king and I have no business with you. Tell Garuda that I demand an audience with him and no other Sura will get hurt."

"I am here," said a new voice.

Ananta turned to witness the sight of the very man he sought, clad in a black suit with white sleeve cuffs. His arms were also folded tightly. Swinging an open palm out, Garuda signaled for all of his Suras to retreat, including Avifauna who left reluctantly, before making a dive to face Ananta. Both of them were frowning.

It was Ananta who took the initiative to begin their dreaded conversation: "your clan and my clan are natural enemies. In order for Rakshasas and the Inferior Suras of your clan to thrive, they must feed on my kin. I'm not opposed to that as long as you don't overstep your boundaries." His red eyes flashed menacingly. "_Four_ of my Nastikas have been slain in the past ten thousand years. _Four_. This is absolutely unacceptable. I should be ruthless and slay a Garuda Nastika for every Ananta Nastika that died at the hands of your clansman, but I do not believe in punishing the undeserving. Just this once, I will be generous and demand only the life of the miscreant responsible for this abomination."

In their two billion years of existence, Garuda could count the amount of times he faced Ananta on two hands. While it was true that he rarely came to look for trouble, the few times he did always put the white haired man into a very disadvantageous position. Each and every single one of Ananta's requests never failed to place huge pressure on Garuda. He knew better than to take the words of the strongest Sura lightly. Even with his alliance with Gandharva and Shuri in place, a full blown war between the Ananta and Garuda Clans would result in too many casualties on his side.

"Which man is it?" he finally asked after a long pause.

Ananta frowned deeper. "You don't even know? I confess that I'm quite disappointed. I didn't think that a king would let so many events regarding his Nastikas go unnoticed, even a king like you." The tone he used resembled Vinata's—the old Vinata's—so much that Garuda had to consciously stop himself from jerking.

"…"

"A large, igneous bird. A tanned man with golden-red hair. Does that sound familiar to you?"

His eyes grew momentarily. Both Garuda's fists and his jaw clenched tightly at the same time. He lowered his head until his bangs covered his eyes and mask. _Vinata… _His gut was expanding and compressing at the same time, with relief, with terror. _What have you been doing for all these years that you've been gone? Why? Why _Ananta_ of all people?_

"He's not here," Garuda muttered. "He hasn't been here for the past ninety nine thousand years."

Ananta blinked in surprise. He finally lowered his guarded arm. "I see… I did not know that the killer was a vagabond. Forgive me, then, for inconveniencing your clan members. I shall hunt him down and annihilate with my own hands."

"No." The response was instantaneous and firm. Garuda's face was contorted with multiple lines of anger. His eyes were dark and his sword was pointed towards Ananta.

The snake was not pleased. He bared his fangs and growled, "are you directly threatening me?"

"I will not let you kill him," he bit out furiously and foolishly. The only reason Garuda was not afraid of his adversary was because he was much more apprehensive of Ananta's threat to kill Vinata. "Vinata is _my _responsibility. He has nothing to do with you."

Ananta laughed. "Nothing to do with me? Garuda, you seem to be temporarily deluded. _I_ am the one going out on a limb here. What part of_ he killed four Nastikas of my clan_ do you not understand? Or do I need to demonstrate with the Nastikas of yours?"

"If he is indeed the culprit, then I will punish him accordingly. Let me rephrase what I said earlier: I don't care what business you have with him. If you touch one feather on Vinata's body, we _will _have a full blown war on our hands." Ananta didn't flinch, but both kings knew that they were now treading on thin ice. The Garuda Clan would suffer major casualties if it started treating the Ananta Clan how it treated the gods, but that situation was also extremely disadvantageous for the Ananta Suras. Enough, at least, to let Garuda gain some leverage from the bluff.

Ananta's face was now so dark with anger it was as if his red eyes were glowing. "I am _immensely_ disappointed in you, Garuda," he growled, taking an assertive step forward, "and your unkingliness. For one man, you would drag your entire clan into war. You would watch so many of your children die."

"Yes." Garuda was equally belligerent. "I am just as bad a king as you described. For Vinata, I would do anything."

A small furrow appeared in between Ananta's brows. He appeared to be in a pensive contemplation for a few moments before sighing and squeezing his eyes shut. Briskly, he turned the other way, the two ends of his brown sash swaying in the wind. "Once again, I am too generous." The words were said softly enough so that only Garuda could hear them. "I know of love only from the way Vasuki stares at Sagara when she is not looking. Beware, Garuda. It made him a fool and it's made you one too. I will let this slip _once_ under the condition that no more Nastikas of my clan are to be slain by this man in the future. If I hear of another death at the hands of the red bird—" Ananta whipped his head around; his expression said it all "—there will be no second chances."

Just like that, the invader started leaving down the rocky road. Garuda sighed softly in relief, finally lowering his sword and loosening his muscles. His vigilant eyes remained trained on Ananta's figure just to make sure he would no longer threaten any more Garuda Suras, not that he had to; unlike the other sly Nastikas of his clan, Ananta was a keeper of his word. He neither killed nor harmed a single Sura, even when they snapped and flared at him.

On his long, solitary journey he never turned back, only stopping briefly to give a bit of advice. "You might want to check up on that Rakshasa. A second stage pipsqueak like him won't even be able to survive my poison for a day."

Perhaps, just perhaps the strongest king of the eight Sura clans was also the fairest.

**S-C-N-D**

_N0 - approx. 61000 years_

**S-C-N-D**

"Visnu."

The olive haired man rose to his feet as his name was called. He smiled mysteriously at Garuda. "The time has finally come."

As usual, Garuda had absolutely no clue what he was implying by "the time." Visnu frequently talked of significant, life-changing decisions that happened or would happen. He often forgot that the rest of the world couldn't see the future like he did. What was life-changing in his perspective was usually just a small event that set the snowball rolling down the hill. Normally, Suras didn't notice until the snowball threatened to crush them.

"Tell me where Vinata is."

"Oh! Have you finally taken Shuri's advise to steal him away in the night?"

Garuda was in no mood for jokes; in fact, he was a little irked that Visnu was so carefree when he had never been this desperate in his entire life. "This isn't just about us anymore. Ananta and my entire clan have gotten involved. The consequences could be dire if I don't bring him back immediately."

"Ah," Visnu sobered with immediate comprehension. "So _that_ has happened. In that case, I do agree with you, my friend. It may be in your best interest to find him as soon as possible. That future wasn't the ideal one I had picked out for you but it does speed things up significantly."

Garuda tried his best to appear to be waiting patiently. It was a little bit hard to do when his natural instincts were screaming at him to demand Visnu to stop beating around the bush and just tell him where Vinata was already. Finally he had an excuse to find him. For a long ninety-nine thousand years, Vinata seemed so far away, so shrouded in darkness. All Garuda wanted was to bring light back into his world.

"So you want to know where he is," said Visnu and Garuda almost throttled him while screaming _YES! _The Original God grabbed his chin with a thumb and index finger. His face was passive for a moment, as if he were searching for something. Then, slowly, a smile emerged. "The number is a hundred thousand. The location is Carte. When both of those requirements are fulfilled, you will find him."

Garuda squinted in disbelief. All that effort for nothing but a puzzle? Well, at least it wasn't as bad as that uselessly cryptic map of Willarv Vinata chucked at his head that one time. Who'd have known that Airavata's face could stretch that… broadly?

"Oh, and Garuda, do you know your colours?"

"My… colours?" he asked hesitantly.

"Yeah," chippered Visnu. "Colours. When you're short on resources, it can be crucial to know which two colours make a third. For example, in your case, grey and blue make red."

Well now Visnu was just spewing plain gibberish. While Garuda had never been bored enough to learn to make every single colour in the world, he was ninety nine point continuous nine percent sure that grey and blue did not make red. Because otherwise, there would be a hoard of red Rakshasas in his land from Cepphus and Kalavinka's incessant reproducing.

"I'm going to go to Carte," he announced. Hearing too many of Visnu's ambiguous prophecies made his head hurt.

Visnu frowned. "It's still early yet."

"There's nothing else for me to do."

His friend stared long and hard at him. "Okay then."

Garuda nodded before leaping into the air. Shortly after his departure, Visnu let out a soft gasp, as if suddenly recalling something crucial. He ran to the edge of a cliff and searched the skies. Maybe he shouldn't have given a Nastika such inhuman speed. Garuda's figure was already too far away for him to elaborate properly so when Visnu finally spotted him, he just cupped his hands around his mouth and screamed one word.

"MARUNA!"

**S-C-N-D**

Unimportant, but the yellow Nastika at the very beginning was Clophe and Cloche's grandmother. When I create original characters, I like to make them have as much relation to Kubera's characters as possible (such as being the ancestor or mother or grandmother or child of one). I think it's better than just making a character straight out of the blue and it saves me the trouble of thinking up a last name as well. :) Last names in Kubera are slightly unusual, as in I can't find a trend that would allow me to create a plausible one.

Thank you for reading! Please leave a review!

-SCND


	12. Hide and Seek

I think in One Last God Kubera, magicians actually refer to their professors by their first names. In this case, I'm not going to bother thinking up a first name for this professor. In my culture, we address our teachers and professors by their surnames and sometimes just sir/miss. In any case, like all humans that have thus far appeared, these two humans are of the same lineage as actual Kubera characters in the story, though they may not be direct ancestors.

Disclaimer: There are many things in this world that do not belong to me. Kubera is one of them.

**S-C-N-D**

Courtship of a Phoenix

…

There was barely a sliver of sun above the horizon, yet a man with a great blue staff and his drowsy companion were already beginning to trudge toward the next city. Around them, there was nothing but dark forest. The only thing that even resembled a path was the little line of barren ground in front of them and at times it was almost impossible to tell where that line was leading to.

Neither of them had a Vayu trait, which made travelling a horrible experience. The woman, however, was a double Surya magician and because of this, was asked to guide her professor to the city of sky on Carte.

"Professor Rahiro," she groaned while tugging at her grey pigtails. "Are you sure you want to take this route to the sky city? Without a Vayu magician, it'll be at least a five day journey."

The professor was frowning. He suddenly stopped walking and glanced at his surroundings calculatingly. "Rina, have you seen any Ananta Suras since we left the earth city?"

"Huh? No…"

"Don't you find it strange, how there are no Ananta or Asura Suras in an area where they are usually abundant?" The silence gave the professor a foreboding feeling and he gripped his staff tighter. "Usually, it means that a strong Superior Sura from a rival clan is in the vicinity. Use Hoti Surya to find the quickest path possible. We must hurry."

…

**Chapter Twelve: Hide and Seek  
**_N0 - approx. 60000 years_**  
**

…

"Um…"

"You're sure you've never seen him?" Garuda asked, pointing to a poorly drawn portrait of Vinata.

The Gandharva Half he'd queried had absolutely no idea what the big, clumpy red thing was so he shook his head slowly while hoping that the white creature wouldn't blast him to pieces. Lately, there'd been rumours passing through Half and heretic villages about a Garuda Nastika hiding out on Carte, looking for someone. The Halfs of his village had been terrified. Although most of them were of Gandharva Clan heritage, they were completely in the dark about the Gandharva-Yaksha-Garuda Clan alliance.

"Okay then," sighed Garuda. Well, what was that? The thirty thousandth time someone had not seen Vinata? _Visnu, are you playing a cruel joke on me?_

He didn't typically ask Carte's habitants if they'd seen Vinata in Sura form because if he had been in Sura form, he would have passed by faster than the blink of an eye. But Garuda wondered if some Garuda Halfs or Suras could feel his humongous presence. Vinata was usually flashy, after all, and very hard to miss.

"Has anyone seen a red bird?" he called out, knowing that there were members of his clan surrounding him. Since he first arrived at Carte, they loved gathering around him for protection and empowerment against Suras of other clans. "A large one?"

There was some degree of muttering behind him.

"What size exactly? Large as in large or very large…"

"My dad is a large red Garuda Sura."

"Hah, my _kid_ is a large red Garuda Sura."

"I saw one!" A woman with normal skin tone but a purple coat of feathers on her back raised her hand and announced in telepathic Sura speech. Garuda immediately turned to her and he could see that she was pleased by the attention. "Um, it was passing by three years ago. It was _huge_!" She made a wide circle with her arms to demonstrate. "About the size of a mountain."

Underneath his mask, Garuda's left eye twitched. "What are you, a fifth stage Mara? That's tiny." Clearly these Suras had been hiding under a rock if they didn't even know the relative size of a Nastika. "There's a huge difference between a Rakshasa and a Nastika. I'm asking you if you've ever seen the sun go out."

"Oh, yeah, definitely," a new voice piped up, causing everyone else to clear a path for him. Walking toward Garuda was a green and yellow grown man. From the looks of it, he was a fourth stage Rakshasa or Upani but most likely a Rakshasa considering the authority he appeared to have over the other Garuda Suras. "Fifty years ago, a red and black creature flew over Carte. I was lucky to even get a glimpse of it, considering the speed that it was travelling at."

Garuda took a zealous step forward. "Which way did it go?"

"Southeast, toward what the humans call the city of sky. This was fifty years ago…" he added, noting that fifty years was probably a laughably short time for a Nastika like Garuda. "It's probably long gone."

Had it been a few hundred thousand years earlier, it wouldn't have mattered much to Garuda. But right now, he no longer had a choice. He had travelled to Carte every day for a hundred years until his wings ached and he decided to just stay put on this planet. Nine hundred more years dawdled by and now that it was finally exactly a hundred thousand years since Vinata left with Kalavinka, he would take any clue to find his lieutenant. Even one of Shess's horrible maps.

"I shall check nonetheless," he decided, swiftly turning. "I would also like to be left alone from this point onward." Not that it wasn't flattering to have a hoard of Maras and Upanis chasing his coattails, but Halfs tended to find the little entourage of Suras quite intimidating.

The yellow Rakshasa put a hand in front of his body and bowed. "As you wish, my king."

Garuda was momentarily surprised. "Did you use to live in my mountains?"

"Oh, no no no. My wife did and she told me many stories of you making a fool of yourself in front of Vinata-nim."

"…"

He made a mental note to remind the Suras of his clan _lightly_ that they should not be running their mouths left and right about his love life. It went on the top of his priority list, right after dragging Vinata back home by his tail feathers.

"Oh yes, Garuda-nim, there are a lot of Half towns from here to the sky city. It's highly unlikely, but sometimes Nastikas do mix in with the Halfs for their own reasons."

He nodded, keeping the green and yellow Rakshasa's words in mind. Vinata was fortunately—or unfortunately—one of those Nastikas with Sura parts that could be hidden relatively easily. There wasn't much to hide on his body except the talons on his feet and a few markings around his eyes. The talons could easily be hidden by a long skirt or baggy pants. As for the eyes, even with those features he could get passed off for a Half or, though it was highly unlikely, a Quarter.

Garuda himself tucked his wings away and examined his appearance in front of a clear pond. Apart from the mask and the hair, he also didn't have any other Sura parts that needed hiding. It was a huge bother, but probably the best decision to put away his wings for the time being. If Vinata was indeed hiding out on Carte, he'd best not attract too much attention to himself.

Who knew when the phoenix was going to stop running away?

**S-C-N-D**

_N0 – approx. 60000 years_

**S-C-N-D**

A grey haired woman put a set of large, green binoculars to her eyes. She looked physically seventeen, with pigtails hanging just above her shoulders. Her short physique put her at a disadvantage when it came to travelling, so she and her professor hiked up a hill to get a wider view of the area. Even from there, it was hard to see anything other than forest and the occasional pond here or there.

"Ah!" she suddenly exclaimed, catching a flash of white. "I see a man. That's strange. We rarely see any other magicians on this road. Do you think he's a Vayu magician, Professor? Maybe he can take us to the next city."

The blue haired man behind her frowned. Twenty years her senior, he was a triple Indra magician, ranked third on the planet, and had experience fighting Suras that surmounted any other magician from Carte. Multiple scars underneath his magician robe proved that. At her mention of a man, he gestured for her to pass the binoculars.

"That's not a man," he said, squinting at the small, white figure. "That's a giant." Using the estimated distance from the man to where he was standing, the professor calculated his height to be at least a hundred and ninety centimetres.

"A Half then?" suggested Rina. "Or maybe a Quarter?"

_Or_, the professor thought with a wrench in his gut, _we might have found ourselves a Superior Sura._

It didn't look like much, but the man's face suddenly turned their way. Rina couldn't see that far without the binoculars but Professor Rahiro could make out a grey mask underneath the white hair. His suspicions were confirmed: either a Half or a Superior Sura.

He took the binoculars off his eyes. "We have to move."

"Uh, professor…" she informed. "I think he's coming towards us."

The blue haired man turned back to see the creature making a beeline for the hill they were standing on. "My god…" he gasped with cold shivers passing down his body. He had never seen anyone move that fast.

"With that speed, he could get us to the sky city in less than a day!"

Professor Rahiro was shaking his head in horror. "Rina, hide us."

"What? Why?"

"Just do it."

"Okay, okay," she grumbled. "Hoti Chandra."

**S-C-N-D**

_N0 – approx. 60000 years_

**S-C-N-D**

The figures of the two blurred slightly but still remained in view. It was almost like someone slung a translucent shower curtain over them. Garuda couldn't quite make out their features as clearly anymore, but generally speaking he saw a young grey woman and an older blue man—two magicians, no doubt, and smart ones for humans. It looked like they recognized his nature and used Chandra's magic—one of the spells he often used to hide from him and Vinata, and not so much him as Vinata. For the humans, though, this wasn't nearly as effective.

And he felt kind of insulted that they would even _assume _that he couldn't see through that petty little trick. What was that _measly_ little hiding spell going to do for them when he had been hunting and killing the covert god of darkness for billions of years?

_"In your case,"_ Garuda's eyes stayed focused on the two figures as he recalled Visnu's words, _"grey and blue make red."_

He wanted to approach them immediately, to throttle them while demanding where Vinata was, but even as he was running, another figure was already making a beeline towards him. Few Garuda Suras could outrun Garuda, even while he was in his human form, but this one was exceptionally fast.

Then he realized that it wasn't a Sura but a Half. A Yaksha Half, which would explain the speed despite him looking physically eight or nine. The Half quickly grabbed Garuda's robe, ducked beneath him and whimpered.

He was about to give the child a questioning look when an Ananta Sura sprung out of nowhere and roared in his face, spraying disgusting saliva everywhere. If there was one thing a bird absolutely _detested_, it was becoming wet. Almost with a vengeance, Garuda drew out his sword and sliced the monster cleanly in half, splattering its guts everywhere. As it fell, he recognized it as a second stage Ananta Upani.

_What an annoyance,_ he thought, sheathing his sword. _Haven't I already wiped out all the Ananta Suras in this area? Like cockroaches, they never seem to die._

"Did you see that professor?" He could hear the very small grey haired girl gasp from her hiding place. "What inhuman strength! What was that, a Mara? Isn't it impossible for an average human to destroy a Sura with one strike? Maybe he's a knight or maybe his sword is a godly item. You didn't see him use Hoti Kubera, did you? What if he _is_ Kubera?"

Garuda could barely refrain from leveling the entire hill after hearing that insult.

"Have you seen this man?" he pulled out Vinata's picture and asked the Yaksha Half child with a forced smile.

"Ah!" it was not the Half's voice that reached his ears, but that stupid, annoying grey haired woman's. "He talked, professor! He's not a Sura after all! A Half or a Quarter then… what is that horrible drawing? I can't tell if that's a wing or a coat of feathers. The proportions are all out of place."

Garuda was having herculean trouble holding his smile in place.

The Half shook his head slowly before running off. He seemed more than eager to skedaddle out of there.

_… Is my smile that scary?_

Meanwhile, on top of that hill, conversation was still going on between the girl and the man.

"I'm going to approach him, okay?"

"Rina," her superior warned.

"Hoti Vayu!"

Garuda felt a gust of wind beside him before it cleared out to reveal the woman. She was very small, even for a human, almost a head and half shorter than him. From the looks of her defined facial features, though, she didn't appear to be that young. Old enough, at least, to resemble a late third stage Rakshasa.

In fact, she could be easily passed off for one of Cepphus and Kalavinka's children with her clear blue eyes, except she didn't have any Sura features. Smilingly, she reached out a hand as soon as she walked up to him.

"Hello there, tall man! I'm Rina Sairofe, and that's professor Rahiro there on that hill. We're both magicians. I couldn't help but notice you kill that big Sura earlier. That was amazing! Not a lot of people on this planet can do that, you know? You must be a Half or a magician of really high rank from another planet. Isholy? Taitalika? Willarv? I have a few relatives on Willarv! Anyhow, what's your name?"

**S-C-N-D**

Just as a minor piece of info, that red and black creature the Rakshasa saw was a Nastika of the Vritra Clan, Utpala to be specific. He was searching for Taksaka, as usual. I was actually going to have him meet with Garuda in this story but decided against it in the end as it would be kind of pointless to the overall plot.

Thank you for reading! Please leave a review!

-SCND


	13. Lightning Strikes

Last one for today even though I have the next two planned out. Hopefully they'll be up tomorrow and if not then at least by the end of this week.

And this is not even near the end of the story. I still need a few chapters for Vinata to explain what he (soon to be she) has been doing, and a lot more chapters for them to bond, for Maruna to be born, for Yuta to come, for Kalavinka to be born, for the siblings to be separated and finally for the disaster of N0. My estimation is that this is going to reach somewhere around 70000 words by the end.

The prologue, the little thing about Maruna and floor at the very beginning is kind of an inside joke. If anyone ever tried to google translate Maruna written in Korean, they would get "floor or" (apparently maru = floor) which is okay concerning short text but in absolutely annoying in huge chunks of text.

Disclaimer: There are many things in this world that do not belong to me. Kubera is one of them.

**S-C-N-D**

Courtship of a Phoenix

…

"MARUNA!"

Garuda turned back for a split second after the yell. Visnu's green figure was still continually becoming smaller and smaller. Even with his vigilant eyes he could only barely manage to make out a green mop of hair and a few distinctive limbs. He wondered if he should go back and ask Visnu to repeat the last thing he said.

What was it again?

Naruna? Varuna? Maruna…?

He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. _Floor…?_

…

**Chapter Thirteen: Lightning Strikes  
**_N0 - approx. 60000 years_**  
**

…

From a distance away, Professor Rahiro watched as his pupil inanely put herself in imminent danger. The white haired man had yet to attack her, which was a good sign. The professor had his staff raised should the giant creature make a move for his sword.

Pity he used up his Hoti Vayu quota for the day.

The only thing saving Rina from disaster was the man being a Half—or that was what Professor Rahiro hoped: a Half searching for another Half, which was relatively harmless. But then they didn't really know if he was searching for another Half. His portrait was absolutely _horrible_. For all the professor knew, the white haired man could be looking for a Nastika parent, which could pose as a little bit of a problem. Or, worst case scenario, it could actually be a Nastika looking for another Nastika, in which case Carte would _really _be in a huge fix.

But generally speaking, if Nastikas were looking for other Nastikas, they would have no business being on a human planet and Halfs weren't dangerous unless they were Vritra Halfs. This man was not a Vritra Half. Any simpleton would be able to deduct that from a glance. He had no horns or sharp blades on his body, just a mask.

In the quiet of the afternoon, he could hear Rina chirp out questions like she usually did when she met someone new. That kid was way too curious for her own good. Someday, she would annoy the hell out of a Superior Sura and get maimed as a result.

He heard Rina ask the man for his name.

"Ga—" the man began before freezing, immediately putting the professor on alert. Ga? Ga—what? He appeared to lower his head slightly, although at that distance the professor couldn't tell because Rina had taken the binoculars with her. "Garuda Clan, Maruna. My name is Maruna."

_Garuda Clan… Not Garuda Clan Half. _The professor's eyes widened as he began sprinting down the hill.

**S-C-N-D**

_N0 – approx. 60000 years_

**S-C-N-D**

"Oh! A Garuda Half!" the grey haired woman—Garuda hadn't bothered to remember her name—exclaimed. "That's so cool! You know, I'm dating a Garuda Half!"

_I said I'm from the Garuda Clan. I never said that I'm a Half_, he thought, disgruntled.

"I didn't think that you'd be of Garuda Clan heritage though. I mean, you don't look like a Garuda Half at all! You don't even have a coat of feathers or anything. My boyfriend has these red and orange feathers that are just _gorgeous._"

"Picture!" demanded Garuda assertively in a half growl. At this point, anything orange and red was as good as a sighting of Vinata.

Rina was evidently taken back by his assertiveness. "Okay…" she squeaked, shooting him a look that made Garuda want to blow her into pieces. Nevertheless, he waited and she pulled out a photo from her wallet. "Here you go. Here's my boyfriend."

Garuda frowned at the picture. This was not Vinata… He had skin the colour of porcelain, unlike Vinata's rich caramel, and the dark brown hair didn't hold a candle to Vinata's beautiful strands of oranges, golds, and reds. It would seem that the woman's boyfriend was actually a Half. Shaking his head, Garuda handed the picture back.

"I didn't think he'd be the one you were looking for," Rina harrumphed, wiping her dear picture protectively of Garuda's fingerprints. "His name is Kite."

"Vinata. I'm looking for Vinata."

"Another Half?" she asked. "That picture you had earlier didn't look like a normal human. Is he a friend of yours?"

_He is so much more than that… _But Garuda was afraid he would give too much away if he mentioned a lover of the same gender. He was pretty sure that there were homosexual relationships between individuals of a fixed gender; it was just that he never heard of any. In any case, if he wasn't careful, she'd realize that she was actually talking to a Nastika and from that, deduct that he was also looking for a Nastika. Once she caught wind of that, he might as well just leave Carte. Extracting any more information from her was as likely as him eating a curry mushroom.

"He's…" Garuda sighed wistfully at the sky. "He's a very dear friend."

Rina was clearly touched by the tale, so much so that upon seeing her face, Garuda twitched. He sighed exasperatingly to himself. What was the case with these humans? Visnu made them so much more emotional than he needed to. Granted, most Nastikas weren't like those of the Vritra Clan, but at least they had enough sense to not tear up at every touching story they hear.

"Maruna-ssi," sobbed Rina.

Garuda didn't respond.

_Oh, _he finally realized after she unblinkingly stared at him for ten whole seconds. _Right… Maruna, that's me. _He almost shook his head at his stupidity. Earlier, he had let a measly _human_ put him on the spot. Garuda knew very well that he couldn't reveal his real name to a magician. While most humans did not know names of Nastikas—especially Nastikas that didn't often mix with the tiny people—they were undoubtedly educated about the origins of the names of each of the eight clans.

But really, how could he just lose his composure like that and blurt out the first thing that came to mind? Even worse was that it was some weird word that Visnu most likely made up on the spot. The Original God was probably laughing himself to death somewhere back home. Maruna was a horrible name that Garuda would never even consider for one of his kids, let alone himself.

"… Maruna-ssi, would you like a curry mushroom? They're really rare and delicious!"

Garuda glanced down at the bit of orange food held up before his face. While he was not a Sura that would get seizures from simply eating a vegetable, it was something akin to a human being offered a bug or worm. Even his patience had limits.

Garuda took the curry mushroom and crushed it in his hands while smiling ominously. "Human, would you like to die?"

Suddenly, a blur of blue swept in front of him, alarming them both. On instinct, a ball of white energy formed in Garuda's hand and he swung his arm forward to smash it at the figure.

"Hoti Brahma! Quick, Rina, a Transcendency seal!"

"Bhavati Asvins!"

The response was a little delayed and barely made it in time. Garuda's Transcendency smothered atoms before the collision, but it didn't stop his fist from flying into the shield and shattering it with mere force.

The blue haired man from the top of the mountain, the more experienced magician of the two clutched his staff so tightly that his knuckles were white. He had an extremely disheveled appearance and was holding the holy item out protectively in front of him. Garuda recognized it at once as one of Indra's artifacts. That alone had him on edge.

"You're lucky you used a spell of Asvins's." His eyes flashed dangerously. "Had you used Visnu's, I would blow you into pieces no matter what it takes."

"Professor?" Rina asked with wide eyes. She was crouched on the floor behind the blue man, a little stunned from his sudden grab and the calculations it took to perform the Transcendency seal.

"Don't move."

She froze at his command. Never in her life had she heard her professor speak in such a demanding voice. But then again, never in her life had she seen his back shaking as violently as it had been that very moment. She looked at the white haired man. He was frowning, but there was something different this time. He now had wings, six humongous white wings coming out of his back. She had never seen such huge Sura parts in her life. Sure there had been very rare accounts of Garuda Halfs who had wings, but those wings were barely large enough to keep their bodies afloat and they certainly did not have multiple ones.

"Good gods, Rina," the triple Indra magician growled, "you _really_ are a genius, approaching a Nastika so defenselessly. You're lucky that all your innards are still in place."

"A-a Nastika?" It felt like someone suddenly dumped the weight of a celestial body on her head. Rina's face quickly morphed into one of terror and dumbfound. She trembled even more violently than her professor. What had she done? How could she have attracted the attention of a _Nastika?_ And now, neither of them had any Hoti Vayu spells left for the day. Tears welled up in her eyes, tears that would have spilled everywhere had she not been too terrified to cry.

"Humans," Garuda remarked amusedly. "So small and insignificant. Does it really scare you that much to have a Nastika on your planet? I'm almost certain that there has been one before, only you've never noticed."

"…" The professor gripped his staff tighter. Rina just continued to fall apart.

"Why are you threatened by my presence?" Garuda asked, turning his head over slightly to the two figures. Even a little gesture like that made them jerk and swarm like little bugs. "You look like you're in line for execution. Just because I'm a Nastika on a human planet doesn't mean that I have plans to destroy it."

"…"

He sighed and closed his eyes, realizing that it wasn't going to be of any use. How in the world did female Vinata ever date one of these puny creatures? Did she spend years stalking him and trying to convince him that she wasn't a threat?

"Ida—"

Garuda's eyes snapped open. "Don't finish that spell. I'm looking for a friend here. You can give up now and we'll all walk away in peace or you can bring disaster to your own people."

"Etu—"

"…"

"Indra," the blue haired man gritted through his teeth.

In a flash, he flew a hundred metres back before violently slamming his head on the rough terrain. When he opened his eyes, he was staring into a mask that encompassed another set of infuriated grey ones. Garuda had a sword to his neck and a foot that pressed down on his ribs so hard the bones shattered.

"I could kill you," the Nastika hissed. "If I hadn't promised Visnu not to hurt any humans unnecessarily, I would kill you now. If Indra actually answered your call, you'd be dead in a second. Consider yourself lucky—"

He was interrupted by a violent clash of deafening thunder striking the exact halfway spot between the professor and his pupil. Garuda turned for a second, but a second was all it took for the blue haired man to disappear underneath his foot and reappear by Rina's side, where she immediately performed Hoti Asvins on him.

Guarding them was a blindfolded man with silvery blue hair. He wore a black hoodie that opened in a V shape down to his waist and tightly fitted pants of matching colour. His arms were extended and lightning was cackling around his fingers. Although he was blindfolded, he appeared to know exactly where Garuda was standing.

"I was surprised to be summoned to Carte," Indra remarked in a very low and scratchy auto. "It's usually a peaceful, pleasant planet. I thought I'd be asked to do something insignificant like holding the barrier of my city for some fifty years. Imagine my surprise to find _you_ here of all people."

"…"

The god took a step forward and the cackling sound of lightning increased twofold. "I never thought that _you_ of all kings would be the first to bully humans. Is this a new kind of low?"

"King?" Garuda barely heard the female human whisper incredulously.

He ignored her. "I am not bullying humans."

"Then why are you on Carte and why have I been summoned to face you? It couldn't have been for any trivial reason. You pose as a threat to the population of this planet. Pity, too. Did you know that your good friend Visnu gave the gods a list of Nastikas with little to no interest in harming the human race? He came to us under the pretense of mediation and asked us to avoid fighting with these Nastikas whenever we could. In actuality, it was just a badly disguised attempt to protect his personal friends. You were one of the first people he mentioned. I wonder what kind of face he would make after hearing of your betrayal."

Garuda knew it was part of Indra's plan to provoke him, but he couldn't believe that the Astika king was actually succeeding. He could take personal insults to his character or even his method of ruling—nothing could be worse than what Vinata had already said, after all—but to have a _god_ insult a close friend was another thing completely. It took him unprecedented strength to control his anger as he retorted, "that won't be the case. Visnu told me to come to Carte."

Indra smiled. "I wonder…" And Garuda felt disgusted that a god was actually acting like he knew Visnu better than himself. "In any case, it's a pity that you have to leave now for the safety of Carte's people."

"Have I killed anyone yet? I have no intension of hurting humans. I am here to find a friend. Any battle that takes place on this planet will be initiated by you. Can you risk entire cities of people just to get me out? I thought gods were supposed to have good rapports with humans because of your mutual hate for the Suras. Can you live with yourself knowing that you took the lives of the very people you're supposed to protect?"

But Indra was still smiling and the blades of lightning continued to cackle around his arms. In fact, they cackled louder than ever, as if they were excited to escape the confines of the god and strike down their enemy. Indra raised one hand and temporarily lifted the blindfold off his left eye. Garuda stiffened but did not freeze. Looking into Indra's flashing eyes would be terrifying for most entities; he probably would have frozen had he not already looked into Visnu's countless times.

"That may be so, Garuda," he replied confidently, "but if there's one thing that I've learned since the creation of the universe, it is that Nastikas are _untrustworthy_."

At the same time the last syllable left his lips, a blade of lightning stuck down exactly where Garuda was standing. By the time it hit, however, Garuda was no longer there. His movements were not visible to the human eye, but then again, neither were Indra's. Only occasionally would people see their battle from cities away as two blades of thunder colliding head on and producing more thunder that rained down on the land.

At the actual battleground, the clashes were absolutely deafening. At any point, Rina was shaking while creating multiple shields with stuttered Hoti Brahma spells. Her professor was no longer trembling now that the Nastika had met his match, but he was still vary and he knew that he could easily become a target for the Garuda Clan King.

"Professor, let's run," squeaked Rina. "At this rate, we won't even hold up one hit from them."

"We should be able to survive one," he reasoned with gritted teeth. "Indra will know to lead him away from us. There's too much at stake here. If I die, he won't be able to continue the fight easily and the Nastika would be left to do as he pleases with this planet. If we run now, there's no guarantee that we'll make it to the sky city alive. Even if we do, there's no guarantee that they'll let us in willingly in this condition."

He surveyed the sky for patches of blue. There were none. Grey thunderclouds obstructed the entire area stretching from the eastern to the western horizon. Literally half of Carte was covered with them. It was so dark that the flashes of lightning were the only things illuminating their faces.

If he ever survived this, Professor Rahiro vowed to write a book about the experience. The lightning blinded him and he daren't look, but in the split second after the clash, he could sometimes discern two figures from the cloudy sky.

The six winged bird, Garuda, had his sword drawn. It was cackling with lightning, not unlike Indra's arms that were also held out protectively. With blades of electricity cackling around his hands, they were almost like swords themselves. It was hard to tell which of the two was faster or stronger in their current state.

"You're at a disadvantage," Garuda said as the blade of his sword collided with one of the lightning blades surrounding Indra's arm. "There's no way you can defeat me easily while wielding the same element as I do."

"I don't need to. I just need to chase you out."

A blade of lightning shot forth from his other hand, only narrowing missing Garuda. The king jumped back, only to realize that a good chunk of his hair had been chopped off on the right side.

"Don't forget that you're also at a disadvantage."

"On the contrary, I am not." With his sword, he chopped off another chunk of hair on the left so that Shuri and Gandharva had no excuse to give him an involuntary haircut later, with emphasis on the _involuntary_. "You forget that I wield _two_ elements."

Because his most convenient light Transcendency had been sealed earlier, Garuda used a stronger one. A beam emerged from the tips of his fingers before spiraling towards Indra. The unique trait of this Transcendency was its accelerating speed and its tendency to follow the target. When humans could still borrow powers from the Suras, it had been somewhat of a favourite for annihilating Maras. However, it was not as effective against stronger opponents because it could only shoot forward and was thus easily avoidable.

Indra flew higher and higher, as did the beam. As they had fought before in several battles, the lightning god already knew all of Garuda's tricks and how to avoid them. At the last second, he dove, passing the beam and propelling in Garuda's direction.

Garuda drew back his arm to gain momentum before swinging his sword forward with huge vigor. Another clash of thunder rang out, this time louder than all others. When their attacks met, the thunder divided into ten different beams, all shooting off into different directions.

Again, the two figures sprung apart, uninjured but temporarily spent. In the time that it took for them to recover, something else remarkable happened.

The sky turned red.

**S-C-N-D**

I actually love battle scenes involving elemental powers and magic. There'll be more than a few of those in this fic.

Thank you for reading! Please leave a review!

-SCND


	14. And Fire Alights

I did not know how horrible FFN formatting on a mobile device is until today. I wrote this in an hour using an iPod with sesame seed sized keys and _dreadful_ autocorrect, so I'm sorry if it's not on par with the other chapters.

Disclaimer: There are many things in this world that do not belong to me. Kubera is one of them.

**S-C-N-D**

Courtship of a Phoenix

…

Two beings stood on a green plain on Willarv: a hooded pink man and a man with red-black hair. They both had horns, but the pink man's were small and grey whereas the Vritra Nastika's were large and sharp with a soft blue glow. Most of the pink man's facial features were hidden by the shadow of his hoodie, with the exception of a very disapproving frown. The Vritra Nastika had his hands folded crossly.

"What do you want from me, Shess?"

"You shouldn't be so aggressive, Utpala-nim." Although he used a polite tone, Utpala saw it as a personal attack and bit back a loud growl. "If you cause such a big commotion on human planets, Taksaka-nim will become angry at you again."

"But that is what I want, is it not?"

"There'll be a point where he won't forgive you anymore—if you keep impersonating him to terrorize human civilizations, that is. Is it worth it to turn both Taksaka-nim and the gods against you?"

"You really are ignorant, Shess," Utpala grumbled, putting a tired hand to his forehead. "_Really?_ Do you think _I_ am the one causing havoc on human planets? I've been in the Sura realm for the past fifty years. And the first thing I get after coming back is a Rakshasa preaching me… Honestly…"

This confused Shess, but he was still considerably dubious. "The magicians of Willarv say it was a giant red and black Nastika that they saw."

Utpala smiled condescendingly. "The magicians? Those small humans? A giant red creature, maybe, but far from black. They probably couldn't discern his colour from shadow." He tapped a finger on his chin. "Come to think of it, I'm sure I saw him a few months ago. He seemed rather irritated, but I would be too if I suddenly got hit by a Transcendency while flying, even if it was just a tiny one. For that particular Nastika, it wasn't just any kind of ire. He was especially aggravated. He even turned around and tried to blast the planet to pieces." Shess raised an eyebrow and Utpala shrugged. "Well, I have no interest in the politics of the Garuda Clan. My tribe is neutral, even though Taksaka seems to be a snake lover. You should feel fortunate to be living on Willarv, Shess. By now, there's probably nothing left of Carte."

…

**Chapter Fourteen: And Fire Alights  
**_N0 - approx. 60000 years_

…

Before either Garuda or Indra could inch another toe forward, a force hit Carte so hard that the entire planet shook and rumbled. There was only one blow, but it took forever for the earthquake to pass. Although cushioned by Visnu's protection, the power of the Transcendency blew away enough atmosphere for humans to see the creature that delivered it. Shrill screams exploded from cities in every direction, only reaching Garuda faintly because most of the surrounding landscape had been flattened from his brawl with Indra.

Garuda's breath hitched.

Vinata, in his Sura form, was even more beautiful than he remembered. Glowing red eyes fixed intensely on a spot of the planet. He didn't know what'd caught Vinata's interest so unyieldingly because the irises were too large to tell. Did Vinata come to help him fend off Indra? Garuda's own grey eyes shone with hope.

He waited patiently for Vinata to notice him, to transform and land at his side. Would he smile fondly? Would he tease him about getting caught up in another fight against a five zen god—the king of Astikas, no less? If only he'd come down. Then they could fly back to the Garuda Clan territory together and leave Indra to his insignificant worshippers. It was a win-win situation for everyone.

Ideally, this would be the case.

In actuality, none of that happened.

The giant bird's eyes skimmed across his and Indra's figure for a total of one millisecond before drifting south. Vinata shifted his entire body in the direction of the sky city, inducing more wild screams from its inhabitants. He narrowed his eyes critically as if searching for a single entity in the cluster and chaos—and to no avail, from the looks of it.

Garuda waited a total of ten seconds.

BOOM.

As expected, it wasn't long until his lieutenant's inherent impatience kicked in and Vinata resorted to force. If a city refused to produce what Vinata wanted, Vinata would blast it apart until he found what he wanted. In that sense, he had even less regard for humans than Garuda had. As there was no Visnu to make him vow anything, he certainly did not hold back on the attacks either.

With great vigor, Vinata forced a talon into what thin remnants of Carte's atmosphere there was left to scratch at the barrier. It barely touched the dome before he drew it back, hissing. Garuda almost slapped a hand on his face in disappointment; how could he forget that barriers stung? There was a reason why Nastikas did not try to break into a city with force alone.

Vinata drew the smoking talon back and roared. Although the sky city remained unaffected due to the god's protection, the hot wind from his breath flattened all vegetation surrounding it.

"Asvins…" The name was uttered loudly enough for people halfway across the planet to hear.

Garuda was as puzzled as Indra was alarmed.

The latter kissed his teeth once before teleporting inside his summoner's barrier, arms crossed but with no electricity. "I assume that Asvins is the god currently minding the barrier of my city?"

Professor Rahiro nodded. "There weren't any five zen gods available at the time of the summoning. We were lucky to get one of four zen. The council didn't think that there was a need for a double barrier with Asvins here. We never anticipated your city to become the target of a Nastika."

Indra's face remained grim. "A four zen god won't help you here… Not against the second of the Garuda Clan."

"S-second?" Rina stuttered, momentarily lifting her head eyes to steal a glance of Garuda. "But you said that one was king."

"Yes, so if Garuda ever dies, the bird you see up there would ascend the throne."

"You mean to say," she squeaked, pointing in the direction of the white haired man, "that _he_ is even stronger?" Indra nodded and Rina gulped. "H-how do people ever have children with… with those _things_?"

Even as she spoke, the sky flashed red again and Indra's city was subjected to another one of Vinata's Transcendency blasts. Asvins's barrier shook, unstable for a split second, before retaining its shape. Somewhere inside the city, the four zen god was suffering immensely.

"What's wrong?" Garuda muttered, though it was too quiet for Vinata to hear. For Vinata to attack a human city twice in such rapid succession, something had to be gravely amiss.

Garuda looked to Indra, who appeared ready to strike down Vinata at any given moment. He couldn't that happen so he prepared a Transcendency first. It was a hindrance, being in human form. He had no attack big enough to isolate Vinata. However, he couldn't spontaneously transform either because half of Carte would be instantly demolished.

_My goodness. Somewhere out there, that fifth stage Mara must be laughing at me… _He narrowed his eyes critically at the phoenix. _I can't fly either because Vinata's Transcendencies usually fill up the entire sky. Visnu… I want to know what happened in the past universe to make you give a Nastika an attack to shoot down his own clan members._

Sighing, Garuda raised his sword in an attempt to get his lieutenant's attention. Once he made Vinata aware of his disapproval, hopefully the phoenix's hot head will cool down enough for a civil talk.

Except that particular plan was horrible from the start, and Garuda knew it was horrible because it backfired on him horribly.

Thankfully, he did stay grounded, because Vinata gave little warning of the thousands of fireballs he sent raining down on the sky city. It was a large scale attack that used up a lot of vigor and Vinata refused to resort to it unless he was fighting a much stronger opponent or absolutely furious. Furious Vinata, Garuda knew from experience, was averse to negotiations. He realized that a little too late, just as he finished firing a large ball of a white, light element Transcendency at the bird.

It hit Vinata on the left collarbone with barely enough force to destroy his outer feather coat. The bird snapped his head over promptly, angrily. He quickly spotted Garuda. For a second, both of them were silent, communicating solely with their stares. Then, everything went awry. The phoenix leaned his head back, and instead of greeting his king, Vinata shot a twisting fireball at him.

Garuda barely avoided it; in the end, Vinata did force him airborne after all. In the air, the attack appeared to be harmless. When it hit, however, it exploded into a coat of thick lava that travelled a thousand times faster than the actual substance. Garuda was thankful he could at least take refuge in the air. Land creatures had no chance to begin with. The blow left Carte's crust red and bubbling.

That Vinata would actually attack him… The king didn't know whether to feel angry or disappointed.

_I waited a hundred thousand years for _this_?_ _Maybe I should be angry at Visnu instead for playing me for a fool._

The only solace came in the fact that Indra was also having moderate difficulty protecting his precious humans. The two magicians were transported into the city a split second after the attack. Unlike Garuda, the sky god didn't know Vinata's Transcendencies like the back of his hand so he was at a disadvantage for the moment. At the very least, Indra wouldn't pose as an imminent threat.

"Vinata!" Garuda called.

The red Nastika turned a deaf ear his way. He redirected his attention to the sky city. Again, a heavy talon came down. Again, the barrier deflected it, except Asvins's power was now on par with a minor god's. Vinata noticed as well. He grinned ferally while bombarding the barrier with physical attacks and Transcendencies, all in rapid succession invisible to the human eye.

"Asvins," he boomed, "stop cowering behind Indra and fight, or are you afraid to face me? Just like you were afraid to face Kalavinka? Is that why you and Marut poisoned her before running away? At least Vayu had the courtesy to deliver her into Ananta Clan territory, though they proved to be _very_ helpful indeed. You, too, deserve a painful death. You deserve a thousand painful deaths."

Vinata drew back. His entire body erupted into flames until the only parts that weren't burning were his eyes, crimson and glowing in rage. Garuda was reminded again why his clan called Vinata the Phoenix. He swallowed a hard lump in his throat, recalling the last time he'd seen this form—when it had been directed at him.

Asvins had no chance. Every human knew it. Indra knew it. Garuda, who once barely escaped the attack with an inch of his life, knew it better than anyone. They watched wordlessly as the barrier shattered into shiny, glass-like pieces that rained to the ground. They all knew what would happen after. Vinata's goal was fulfilled, but it was already too late to stop the follow-up of his attack. In a moment, the sky city would be nothing but a red and bubbling crater. No amount of Hoti Brahma spells could change that.

Luckily, Indra was fast on his feet. Before the entire city was eradicated, Vinata got obstructed by another thick barrier. The flames from the attack ran down the sides of the dome and boiled the earth for a second time. Half of Carte was now reduced to a burning wasteland that would take another hundred thousand years to cool.

When everything cleared out, the sky turned blue again. Inside Indra's city, a small figure suspended midair. Indra held Asvins's body in his arms for a transient moment before it vanished into wisps of green smoke. Angered, the sky god tilted his head up at a heaving Vinata.

Indra reached an arm out, an arm that was cackling with lightning.

Vinata feebly shifted his body to avoid the attack but his movements were now clumsy and unrefined. Knowing what would happen next, Garuda shot forward with a great burst of energy, morphing into his gigantic Sura form as he did. He hoped—he desperately hoped that he would make it in time, because otherwise…

Barely. He didn't even want to think about how close it'd been. Had Indra's lightning hit, Vinata would have been severely injured, if not dead.

With six wings folded into a shield, he took the entire impact of Indra's attack for the phoenix that was no longer flaming. He had to shed two wings that tore, but four were enough for him to stay afloat for the time being. Not for long, though. Not if Indra kept attacking.

As much as he hated it, he would have to use _that_.

Garuda extended long his neck forward, showering the barrier with streams of liquid light that flowed from his mouth. The attack wasn't strong at all—it would have a hard time killing a second stage Upani—but it was very bright. Any human looking directly at the sky would be blinded instantly. As Indra was blindfolded, it would not affect him, but the confusion of the humans around him would create a diversion and buy Garuda the time he needed.

He turned, grabbed Vinata and leaped off of Carte's atmosphere into space. Once in the void, the force increased twofold in the absence of air resistance and gravity. Still, no matter how exhausted Vinata was, he could easily slip away from the loose hold of Garuda's claws and talons. He just didn't try. He let the both of them fall onto a barren planet. He let Garuda pin him to the cold, solid rock. He let his body nestle limply in the gigantic crater that their crash landing created. He did it without saying a word, with only a hostile glare and a twisted sneer.

Two billion years of progress amounted to nothing. It was as if they'd been taken back to the Seven Thousand Year War all over again.

_Honestly, it'd hurt a lot less if you kept running away._

**S-C-N-D**

Whew, that took all of my effort (and battery). I'm anxious to finish this. If I drag stories on for too long, I tend to abandon them.

Thank you for reading! Please leave a review!

-SCND


	15. Home Bittersweet Home

Okay, just be warned that while there's a lot of fluff in this chapter, there's a lot of sadness too. :\ I guess that's what you call this story—bittersweet?

Myna—guess whose name that is—is a type of south Asian starling that is most commonly found in northern India. I thought that was apt because Hinduism originates in India. And also because like a starling, she never stops talking. She's like the Garuda Clan equivalent of Cloche.

Disclaimer: There are many things in this world that do not belong to me. Kubera is one of them.

**S-C-N-D**

Courtship of a Phoenix

…

"Stop—ah!—Stop! Please, Garuda! I get it! I'm sorry! You're king! I'm down on my knees for you, don't you see?"

The red man held an arm protectively in front of his face, but that didn't stop his king from swinging the silver sword down and cracking his bones. Now that all four of Vinata's limbs were broken, there was nothing he could do and nowhere he could go. He was at the complete mercy of Garuda.

As his arm fell limply, Vinata tilted his head back and laughed rather maniacally. "All right, don't stop then. I suppose the next to go will be my vocal chords? Are you sadistic enough to cut my neck muscles off one by one? If you want to make this as painful as possible, then go ahead, you incompetent king. Do your best. It's not as if there's an afterlife where I can look back at this."

Despite his belligerence, when Garuda raised his sword, Vinata clamped his eyes shut in fear. Instead of swinging it back down, the king let it rest on his beaten shoulder and ragged clothes. "So you admit that you've learned your lesson _now_? Funny, because you didn't seem to be very sorry when you were on fire earlier."

Vinata huffed. He would have crossed his arms and legs, if _someone _hadn't broken them. "Well… yeah, that was kind of my last resort. I didn't think you'd survive. That attack takes up more than half my vigor but it's really nice looking, you see. I just couldn't help myself."

Even now, Vinata smirked, looking awfully pleased with himself. Tried of the sight of him, Garuda sighed and turned to walk away. He was gone at least half a football yard before Vinata began to demand where he was going.

"Home."

A pause.

"W-well don't leave me here! Take me with you."

"How? I can barely transform into Sura form and you don't have any vigor left. Unless you want to ride on my back…"

"Wait, is this an attempt to humiliate me for losing the battle?"

"…"

"Ah! Stop walking away! Don't leave! Fine! Whatever! I'll do it. Come back! I have no shame left anyway! Just—ugh! You better not have any tiny Asura Suras living in your feathers."

…

**Chapter Fifteen: ****Home Bittersweet Home**  
_N0 - approx. 60000 years_

…

"Morph. Now."

However clipped and demanding Garuda's order sounded was completely contradicted by his actions. He had a loose grip on Vinata's neck, allowing more than enough room for the other bird to pant heavily. Even though Vinata was discomforted by the invasion of space, he could easily take on human form and slip away, which was exactly what Garuda intended.

But Vinata, when mad, tended to do the exact opposite of what was demanded of him. So he did not morph, but he did laugh a little bitterly.

"This seems oddly familiar, don't you think?"

Garuda released Vinata completely in surprise. Through gritted teeth, he bit out, "so I am not the only one who thought back to the Seven Thousand Year War. Why don't you tell me where I went wrong this time? I spend a hundred thousand years trying to find you and when I finally do, the first thing you do is attack me."

Even with freedom, Vinata did not move an inch. Simply remaining in his Sura form depleted his vigor bit by bit. Yet still, he refused to morph. For what? To spite Garuda? That much was worth his life? Waves of anger surged through the white bird's veins. How dare Vinata attack him? Was this really the gratitude that he got for hundreds of thousands of years of painful waiting? For the first time, he began to wonder if Gandharva had been right. Maybe Vinata really had been playing him for a fool. Maybe everyone had.

He arched his long neck down until his beak was almost touching Vinata's. In the face of the red bird, he vehemently declared, "_I_ should be the one disciplining you right now. You, who have complete disregard for everyone but yourself. I let it slide when you persistently angered Chandra. But now, four Ananta Nastikas? Asvins and then Indra? How can you endanger your own clan so recklessly like this? Don't you know how to pick your fights?"

Instead of retorting, Vinata opened his beak and gathered what little vigor he had left into a very small Transcendency. Garuda's eyes widened and he turned his neck away, expecting a huge blow. Instead, the attack hit like a mosquito sting. It wasn't like physical damage really made a difference to begin with. Vinata used it as an emotional attack, and he succeeded. It cut deep.

"You…" He felt his face sting. "When are you ever going to be finished? When will you ever be satisfied?"

With a roar, Vinata finally leaped to his talons. He blindly swung an arm at Garuda. It ended up hitting him hard on the left side of his ribs and temporarily beating the air out of one lung. But he recovered quickly before leaping back to keep a little distance between them. Garuda did not have enough restraint to prevent himself from hitting Vinata in reflex. Even if a repeat of the Seven Thousand Year War was destined to happen, he refused to hurt Vinata unless he really had to.

"Why won't you ever leave me alone?" The words came out of Vinata's mouth in an ugly screech, one so distorted that Garuda had a hard time believing this was his voice. "You always wonder why it is that I hate you so much. How can I not when you seem to have developed this sick _obsession_ with me? You preach me about my duties and yet you're the one who took them away. So when I finally got tired of your hypocritical lectures, I thought you would leave me alone once I turned female, once I forfeited my position as the second in the clan. But _no_! You just had to come chasing after me even more persistently than before. Well, I hope you're happy now. I hope everything's just peachy for the Garuda Clan. Why don't I go die this instant so you never have to worry about me again?"

"You? Die?" The words sounded empty even to his own ears.

"Are you scared of the notion? Too weak to suffer what I'm suffering? I wish you would." Except he didn't, and his shaky voice and tearing eyes were testament. "Goddammit, Garuda!" Vinata fell to his knees on his arms' support. His head was tilted down and his feathers and horns were obstructing his eyes. "Why is it always _my_ fault? Why do you keep telling me you love me but then turn around point your finger my way at the very first thing that goes awry? You don't even know what happened! How Marut and Asvins poisoned her while she was sleeping and she didn't _know_ because when she finally woke up, it was already too late! You don't even know how humiliating it was to beg a god to give her a chance because he was the only option and _there was no time_. Do you know how many Suras I promised to kill for Vayu to even _listen _to me? And then, when he sent her _there_, they didn't even do_anything. _The four of them stood and watched and waited, taunting her as she died. So tell me what you would have done if it hadn't been Kalavinka, if it had been Shuri or Gandharva instead!"

At that point, Vinata realized his tears would literally create an ocean if he didn't stop. His two claws cupped the tears that flowed from his eyes but weren't very successful in doing so because they were too sharp and jagged. With every splash of water on earth, another small pond was created. Sniffing, he finally transformed, shrinking bit by bit until he was human size again. Garuda closed his eyes and followed shortly after. They stood approximately a mile apart because of their size, but he was still at Vinata's side in an instant.

Swallowing hard, he reached out a hand to tentatively cup around Vinata's ear. The crying man flinched at the contact, but Garuda showed no signs of withdrawing it.

"Why didn't you come to me after Kalavinka's death? I would have listened."

"But you'd never let me do what I've done and all those people—every single one of them would have walked away in spite of their heinous crimes."

Garuda winced and slipped his hand back to his side. Even with eyes full of tears, Vinata stared at him accusingly, daring him to refute the accusation. But he didn't, because they both knew he'd be lying if he did. If friendship was the one thing Vinata valued over love, duty was the one thing Garuda did.

He closed his eyes in an attempt to search for the light of the situation. They both needed it desperately. "So that's what it was… I thought you were just opposed to _me_…" He ran a hand through his hair tiredly "—because you were always so belligerent when I was around, despite that you were also sad. So when you attacked Carte, I thought… I thought it was your last resort," he admitted shamefully, "that you'd go to any measure to settle your own scores so long as I wasn't involved."

Vinata gave little warning as he leaped forward and grabbed onto Garuda's shirt collars. In his male form, he was only half a head shorter than his king. He stood completely straight as he brought the bundle of clothing up to his eyes. Garuda had to tilt his entire upper body upward. He felt the shirt tearing at its very seams.

"How could you say that?" cried Vinata. "How could you even think that way? You're the only one I have left…"

His heavy, unabashed sobs travelled for miles and miles. Echoes filled up the silence as mountains all around them deflected the cries. Garuda stayed silent and stiff, only because he was afraid that even if he moved an inch, Vinata would somehow slip away from him.

"I'm done." Vinata threw his arms around Garuda, digging his nails into his shirt and pulling the fabric down. "I won't kill anyone else. You can punish me however you like. You can even kill me. If it's you, I have no regrets."

Sighing, he finally lifted his leaden arms to run through Vinata's golden-red hair. Their height difference made the hug very awkward, and Vinata had to arch most of his back in order to bury his face in Garuda's shoulder, making it impossible for him to reach his waist.

"You don't have to do anything. Just hold on."

The king leaped into the air. One minute, Vinata was clinging onto him as if the world would end. The next, he found himself on the back of a gigantic bird, nestled somewhere in his soft down. Garuda's neck had to curve in a U so that he could see Vinata's tiny figure and ask him if he was comfortable. But at that point, Vinata was already fast asleep.

Suras had no need for sleep. Nastikas could regenerate their vigor even while they were awake. Sleeping was a liability; it made one vulnerable to attacks from gods and rival clans. He could maybe think of two reasons why a Sura would willingly fall into slumber. One was to pass time. And the other was as a temporary escape to the universe and the pain it brought.

Since he couldn't stroke Vinata's comfortingly in his gigantic Sura form, Garuda whipped his neck forward. He leaped off the planet, leaving behind nothing but a humongous, talon-shaped crater imprinted on the ground.

He smiled to himself, recalling the end of the Seven Thousand Year War. Vinata, almost like a tiny parasite, jabbered away on his back for the entire trip. At the time, it irked Garuda so much he almost grabbed nearby asteroids and jammed them inside his ears. _Why didn't I break his jaw when I had the chance?_ He'd thought scathingly.

Now it was painfully silent and he found himself missing Vinata's voice.

Sighing, Garuda flew on. It wouldn't be like last time. This time he had enough vigor to take shortcuts through the Sura realm to Garuda Clan territory. It wasn't long until the Garuda Suras saw the shadow of their king. They gaped in temporary dumbfound and then began running around, screaming for Avifauna.

Garuda didn't wait until he entered the atmosphere to transform into human form. He grabbed Vinata's floating body by the waist before making a sharp dive. While asleep, Vinata somehow reached up to latched an unyielding grip onto his sleeve.

Garuda sighed. _Haven't you abused my poor shirt enough for today?_

Shaking his head with a faint smile, he landed outside of a cave. Prying Vinata's fingers off of his sleeve, Garuda carried the man into the darkness and laid him down in his nest. It was here that Vinata would remain undisturbed for the next three months.

**S-C-N-D**

_N0 – approx. 60000 years_

**S-C-N-D**

"Wait, so let me get this straight," Vegavis's daughter muttered with hands on her hips. "Last time you weren't here for council, and now this time Vinata-nim isn't?"

The clan also muttered quietly amongst themselves, save for Vegavis who looked extremely disapproving of the question.

"You heard correctly," Garuda replied with closed eyes. He was sitting on his throne, an elbow resting on an armrest and his head resting on the back of his hand. "Why are you so surprised, Myna? Vinata hasn't been to council for many years now."

"Yeah," stated Avifauna, "but this time, he's actually home."

Garuda had a feeling the Suras of his clan actually missed the entertainment that Vinata provided and not Vinata himself.

"Forget it," he sighed. "He's having a bad year. Just let him be."

"Can we still be dismissed early?" asked a purple Rakshasa.

"Just go," grumbled Garuda. He bet half the Suras of his clan would like him just a smidgen more for this—probably the half that supported Vinata in the Seven Thousand Year War.

One brown Rakshasa remained sitting cross-legged on a rock before his king's throne. Garuda shot him a look questioning why he hadn't left with his daughter. Vegavis only smiled knowingly.

"There's someone here to see you, Garuda-nim."

Visnu help him. The last time Vegavis uttered those exact words was the beginning of all Garuda's troubles. As Vegavis stood and flew away, he shut his eyes in irk.

"Ananta, if this is you here to see me again about your Nastikas, I've already brought Vinata back and disciplined him."

Two warm hands suddenly covered his eyes. Garuda snapped them open but all he could see was four lines of light—the cracks between tightly clamped fingers. The only thing he knew was that Ananta's skin certainly was _not_ that warm.

"Who—"

He was kissed by the stranger softly, lovingly, in a way that completely blanked his mind, leaving him incapable of response.

"I'm not Ananta," she said.

Her hands left his face. The sun shone on her golden-red hair, almost making it almost glisten. But it was Vinata's smile that really put the beauty of Visnu's entire universe to shame.

**S-C-N-D**

So I'd like to state that this is a get-together-and-_then_-sort-out-all-our-differences relationship. Some things have been worked out between the two of them, but not everything. That tends to happen with a billion years of adversary. ._.

Anyway, fluff! Yay! Probably the moment you've all been waiting for! I need to go sleep now.

Thank you for reading! Please leave a review!

-SCND


	16. Habits Die Hard

I realized after writing this chapter that I am just as good at writing romance as Currygom is (ie. Not just horrible but completely incapable).

Disclaimer: there are many things in this world that do not belong to me. Kubera is one of them.

**S-C-N-D**

Courtship of a Phoenix

…

Shake. "Vinata."

Shake. Shake. She didn't feel like answering, not even a grunt, not when there was a huge hole inside her chest.

Shake.

"Ng."

Shake. Sigh. She inwardly cheered at her victory. And it was a bonus that his arms never left her waist for a moment so she had the warmth of his comfort _and_ her way. He tucked her head underneath his chin. Even better. She smiled and nuzzled him.

"Vinata," he was stern, "this can't go on forever. I don't mind watching over you or carrying you around while you're asleep. However, I disapprove of what you're doing. I know it's been harsh and painful, but I don't think replacing Cepphus and Kalavinka with me is going to accomplish anything.

"Right now I'm getting three persons' worth of affection from you. And I really don't want to be on the receiving end of your love for the other two. It makes me rather jealous of people I shouldn't be."

…

**Chapter Sixteen: Habits Die Hard  
**_N0 - approx. 54000 years_

…

On a patch of tall, dry grass, Gandharva paced back and forth with his hands overlapping behind his back. Every now and then, he'd stop to look at his three friends, only to become even more agitated, especially in the presence of someone who wasn't even supposed to be there at all. How could he discuss his man problems seriously with Garuda canoodling his wife all the time?

How was this even fair?

"I don't get it. I just don't!" Unable to take it anymore, he finally blurted to Visnu. With an accusing point, Gandharva complained, "Garuda goes to a human planet for a thousand years and he comes back with a wife. I've been going to Willarv for _three hundred_ thousand years now. When am I going to get my wife, Visnu?"

Being a close friend of the notoriously short-tempered Eradication Dragon, Taksaka, Visnu was hardly a stranger to the stinginess of strong Nastikas when things don't go their way. He barely batted an eyelash while retorting, "when you stop loafing around and actually ask her out, Gandharva. I can't imagine it being a herculean task."

"Ah, but Visnu," Shuri piped up from atop a bundle of soft moss, her eyes almost haughtily half-lidded, "I think you're a little lost in your path of time. Gandharva's got a little tiny problem at the present." She demonstrated by almost pressing together her thumb and index finger. "He can't get to Menaka. Urvasi won't let him."

At Shuri's comment, Gandharva froze. A few miniscule shivers passed from the tip of his toes to the tips of his hair, forcing him to jerk his shoulders spastically in an attempt to rid himself of them. Between the spacey god, smirking fox and about-to-be-permanently-unfriended bird, it was hard to tell which one got on his nerves more.

After a long pause of perplexity, Visnu came to a realization. "Ah, Shuri… now that you mention it, I think I do remember an incident he had a while ago. Didn't Urvasi publicly ban him from ever seeing her again?"

"And since Urvasi is always with Menaka—"

"Stop!" yelled Gandharva, who finally deigned to turn around, his blue face as flustered as could be. "Stop it! I get it, okay? It's my fault and all that. Yadidadida. How was I supposed to know Urvasi's so _sensitive_?"

Gandharva's jabbering was almost loud enough to transcend realms and wake Taksaka. Though he turned a blond ear to most of the conversation, Garuda, who was leaning against a rock with Vinata asleep in his lap, finally looked up. "I hate to take away your joyous moment," he quipped sarcastically, "but you were the one who told her—quite murderously, if I may add—that _Makara_ wanted to pass her two flower necklaces along with a hug and a kiss on the cheek. To be honest, that is just so wrong on so many different levels that even I am quite disappointed."

"_Menaka_. I said _Menaka_, not _Makara_."

"Well…" Shuri smiled darkly. "That's not what Urvasi heard…"

"It was underwater, for pete's sake! She couldn't have been hearing right."

"Gandharva," Garuda sighed only for the sake of keeping the atmosphere serene, "you're fish. You don't have a problem with communicating underwater and Urvasi doesn't either."

"…" The blue man crossed his arms and hissed venomously,"Okay. Fine. It was completely my fault. I was tired and grumpy and half drunk. Now what do I do? Since you guys are so busy making gibes, why don't one of you tell me?"

Vinata suddenly stirred. From that point on, Garuda completely lost interest in the conversation. He didn't even look up after hearing his name called several times. While Gandharva complained more about inane matters, he smoothed Vinata's hair with a hand.

She chose an appearance much younger than usual. At first, he was adverse to this because he didn't want to look at his wife and see a second stage Rakshasa instead. After a little but of reasoning, his opposition ceased after discovering that the only reason she did so was to make it easier for him to carry her. Whether it was a meeting or hunting or visiting his friends, Vinata never stopped clenching onto his shirt.

For a second, her grip tightened and several of his feathers perked in nervousness. Fortunately, it didn't last very long and soon, her breath was even again. Sighing in relief, Garuda glanced back up to see what he had missed.

Gandharva was no longer complaining, for it was now Shuri's turn. Her ears pointed down while she grumbled most melancholy, "Visnu, when do I get my love? Why has someone as beautiful as me yet to find a husband?"

"Too many people want to be your husband, Shuri. The problem is… they're all from other clans."

"Oh, no," Visnu corrected Gandharva. "Close, but no cigar for you, I'm afraid. Actually, the reason why Shuri hasn't been able to find a husband is because she's rejected every male Nastika in her clan."

"Because none of them are strong enough and the only strong one told me I'm too beautiful to date," huffed Shuri. "Too beautiful to date! Has anyone ever heard of this nonsense? You'd think he was Vritra or something, but no, he had plenty of wives. It was just _me_ that he didn't want." Her tail swished back and forth in sync with her grumbling. "And there are way too many females in my clan compared to the other seven. I need choices too! If only some of them would switch over, like Ha—"

Vinata suddenly stirred again. "Quiet guys," her husband hissed, hugging her protectively. "You almost woke her up."

The two of them, Gandharva and Shuri, stopped their moping to turn and stare unblinkingly at him. Even while Garuda ignored them, they continued staring, observing, blatantly glaring daggers his way.

Obliviously plucking the petals of a flower, Visnu hummed a pleasant tune.

Finally, Gandharva ran a frustrated hand through his hair. He mumbled to no one in particular, "makes you want to push him off a cliff, doesn't it?"

Shuri's ears twitched as she perked her head. "I agree."

**S-C-N-D**

_N0 - approx. 54000 years_

**S-C-N-D**

Vinata had a love hate relationship with the feeling of being half awake. Her senses were dull and her eyelids heavy. She could hear noises from every direction but she couldn't distinguish between them. Nor could she tell what made these voices. Not that she'd want to anyway, because she was holding onto something warm and comfy. It made her sleepy once more.

But something told her that it was time to wake up. It was a feat hard to accomplish in all this drowsiness and insubstantiality. In the back of her head, there was a little voice trying to tell her of a meaningful reason she had for subduing herself in this state. What was it again? Sadness? Death? She couldn't quite recall in this bliss.

Though she couldn't summon the power to lift her leaden eyelids, she yawned and stretched without restraint. The hand that flew up suddenly latched onto something soft and fleshy. Oh, fun. She giggled while squishing and playing with it. Accidentally, one of her fingers brushed against something hard and solid.

That was when she opened her eyes…

… To see herself grabbing Garuda's face.

Instead of the poised, patient expression she was used to seeing him wear, he also had his eyed closed. When she lifted her hand, he blinked them open. A smile slowly came across her face.

"Have you been my pillow?"

He nodded.

She looked around and saw that them sitting in a place she'd never seen before. It was beautiful, full of different colour trees and undergrowth. The entire area was shady, which meant that they were deep inside a forest thick enough to obstruct sunlight. Usually these areas only appeared on human planets. But it dead quiet for such a wild place. She couldn't feel the presence of any other Sura, human or Half. Garuda must have worked hard to isolate them in this peaceful little area.

Vinata shifted slightly to put her body upright. Tilting her head back to meet his gaze, she queried, "was it… inconvenient?"

He shook his head.

"Then… Cepphus and Kalavinka… Are they still gone?"

He said nothing.

She frowned. "I see."

She heaved a big sigh and dug both hands into his shirt. Incidentally, he also reached for her face at the same time and ended up accidentally grabbing it. With his fingers stretched out, he was able to cover half her head.

"I feel small."

"Sorry," Garuda apologized sheepishly, sliding his hand down. "You're a little small at the moment. I didn't mean to make you self conscious. I just thought—well, I thought you were going to cry again."

Vinata blinked incredulously. "I cried?" Even though she felt horrible at the moment, horrible and a little apprehensive of a future without her two best friends, it wasn't enough to reduce her to tears.

Yet Garuda nodded very firmly. "You don't recall the other times you were awake?"

Recall was putting it in very loose terms. It was more like she knew everything but couldn't differentiate between what was real and what was merely a figment of her fear. So she just shook her head and continued to stare cluelessly into his eyes.

"You were crying a lot. You'd always hide your face in my clothes. You wouldn't let go of me; your grip was relentless. I had to carry you everywhere, and if someone else tried to touch you or even come near you, you'd burn them. I was conpletely monopolized."

"Ah!"

She quickly scooted away from his body at the sudden recall of the stern tone he'd used with her. She took him by surprise and he froze, two arms drawn out as if still supporting her weight. He pressed his lips close together in frustration, but Vinata took it as a sign of anger and continued putting distance in between them.

Why she recalled that particular memory of all things was a mystery. His rejection, though stated many years ago, suddenly stung and sombered her. She subconsciously curled up, knees reclining to her chest and hands clenching her heart.

"You…" His eye twitched and he lunged forward, tackling her entire body with calculated precision. "Do not think you're getting off easy with this. I am far from done with you… Every single day I had to carry you around. I couldn't hunt properly because I was busy maneuvering your body around Transcendencies and as an extension of that, I couldn't eat properly either. I got ridiculed by all the Nastikas in our clan. Gandharva and Shuri no longer want to talk to me anymore. The list goes on and on."

"You said it wasn't inconvenient!"

"I lied! It was inconvenient. It was the most inconvenient period of my entire life!"

Garuda forgot for a moment to be more considerate with his word choices. His outburst stumned her silly. She trembled and whimpered under his arms. Did she not feel safe with him holding her? Or did she think that he would actually go as far as hurting her? Garuda guiltily released her and apologized.

He extended a hand. "Come here and talk to me. I guarantee you'll feel better afterward."

Tentatively accepting his offer, Vinata crept a little closer. She was still reluctant to climb into his lap because of the sharp tone he had used. Instead, she sat cross-legged in front of him. Considering that she took on the appearance of a second stage Rakshasa, her husband towered a good head above her despite that he was in the same position. As inconvenient as it was, neither if them seemed to mind.

"Tell me everything," he said, inching closer and placing a hand on one of hers.

Her eyes stayed glued to the ground. "I don't feel comfortable talking about it," she told him, albeit telepathically. "It just makes me think of all the things I could have done to prevent it from happening."

She was on the verge of crying now and Garuda's gut clenched guiltily at having driven her to this state. He almost went into panic when Vinata lifted her free hand to rub at her eyes in pretense of removing small pieces of dirt and debris. Garuda withdrew his hand to pull her closer to him. If she had to cry, the very least he could do was to lend her a shoulder to cry on.

She tried burying her head in his neck again, only to have him push it away. Firmly grabbing both her shoulders, he announced, "you're not allowed to sleep until this is all sorted out. I specifically took you to a private place so you can talk. I don't care if it'll take days until you're ready. I can wait."

The look in his eyes were very absolute. Despite knowing better, Vinata's temper flared and she pried his hands off with a glare. "That's a little mean."

"Mean?" He messed up her hair playfully. "You're in no position to talk mean, Vinata. Mean is when you prodded me like a toy in front of my friends. Mean is when you made me wait hundreds of thousands of years for you." He sighed. "Well I suppose, considering your situation I shouldn't demand you to speak. But unless you're intentionally looking for sympathy, I will do whatever it takes to bring you out of this deplored misery you've brought upon yourself."

"I only bring misery upon myself for profound reasons."

He shook his head at her. "It's not a smart idea, Vinata. There was once someone exactly like you. He was absolutely miserable. It wasn't until another person made him vent that he felt better. Every brooding bird needs a person to force them out of their misery, so you can either talk, or…" He grabbed her cheeks and stretched them. "I'm going to make you speak."

In all the years she opposed his leadership, why didn't he use that face with her then? Vinata was sure she could have accepted—even prostrated to him after seeing that powerful glint in his eyes.

In a panic, she reached out and instinctively burned him. She thought that he would release her and scramble away, but he didn't. His hands firmly held her cheeks and his body stayed rooted to the ground. By the time she realized what she was doing, his shirt was already charred and his skin red and raw. Garuda finally let go as she brought her hands to her horrified face.

"That wasn't… what I expected," he admitted in a strained voice.

"Oh my god," she said. "I'm—I just—" Unable to speak, she threw her arms around his neck. "I can't believe I attacked you without restraint. I didn't mean to. I'm so sorry."

"It's already healing."

It wasn't what she wanted to hear. It wasn't really important either. When she realized she'd burned him, she suddenly thought of all the times she had hurt him in the past, intentionally and unintentionally. It made her innards clench as tightly as it did when she saw Cepphus and Kalavinka's mangled bodies. The feeling wasn't exactly the same but it was just as bad.

"Don't say you forgive me, please," she implored. "It's not fair to you that I'm being such a bad wife. Can you please just punch me or fly away or just do something that makes me feel like a horrible being?"

"You want me to make you feel worse when you're already torturing yourself like this." He yanked her body back to face her. "Tell me you aren't serious."

"I am," she stated firmly, stretching her arms out to their full length. "Hit me as hard as you can."

Garuda stared blankly.

"Look, I'll even make it easier for you."

Before he can ponder the ambiguity of that statement, his lap suddenly began smoking. In a span of thirty seconds, Vinata became a lot bigger and heavier. He was still nonplussed when, out of nowhere, two hands roughly grabbed his throat.

The tanned man's wild eyes were red and glowing. "Give me your throne or die."

Now Garuda reacted. Inadvertently, he sucker punched Vinata in the gut so hard that the latter flew straight through sixteen trees.

**S-C-N-D**

Wow, I was intending to get somewhere but I actually got nowhere at all.

Thank your for reading! Please leave a review!

-SCND


	17. The End of Us

Okay, so my quality of writing seems to be decreasing since I'm a little unsure where to take this couple in order to get from the end of point A (which is Chapter 15) to Point B in my outline. Therefore there might be two or three chapters of kindasorta filler. (Ack.) But I shall try not to drag this on for too long, especially since CoaP is intended as a get-to-the-point story (with a little bit of humour in between).

Disclaimer: There are many things in this world that do not belong to me. Kubera is one of them.

**S-C-N-D**

Courtship of a Phoenix

…

The three judges stood with identical postures: eyebrows furrowed, one hand on their chin, and occasionally an impatient scratch of their feathers with the other, vacant hand. Being the last three living Suras from their line, each one had no choice but to endure the presence of the other two, even though it felt beyond awkward with even two of them together for longer than an hour. One of the three was currently questioning his loyalty to his king. Two of the three could think of much better ways to spend their leisure time. All three were wishing they were anywhere but here.

"Well," the pink haired woman finally offered her wisdom, "it's clear that one of you is in the wrong and I think I know who."

Her father crossed his arms. "Both of you have to apologize in my opinion."

His father rolled his eyes. "Don't turn to me. I only find it amusing that no one got thrown into a mountain this time."

"…"

"Considering all the damage you two caused the clan so far, I think you should just break up."

"…"

"Then again, seeing as Vegavis nearly died to bring you together, I feel that his almost sacrifice would be in vain if that were to happen. Perhaps what you need is a change of heart for the considerate. The last thing our Nastikas want is for Vinata to return to thirsting for the throne. It's almost like that saying: damned if you do, damned if you don't."

"…"

Garuda's hand pressed on her shoulder and Vinata, distracted, looked over it to see his poker face.

"You're heating up. You've been uncharacteristically silent the entire time. Why the effort? There's no need to hold it in. It's only Avifauna." The icy demeanor suddenly shattered to reveal an almost mischievous smile and an unmistakable twinkle in his eye. "Just scorch him."

…

**Chapter Seventeen: The End of Us  
**_N0 - approx. 54000 years_

…

Several profane curses rang through Garuda's mountains. Minutes later, three sets of wings flapped as if the Suras were running for their lives. Halfway to the horizon, the pink-red Upani turned and winked. She was the only one of the three with an attribute of fire and had more resistance to Vinata's attacks despite being the lowest ranked Sura of the line.

Garuda scratched his head in wonder. "Ah, I had no idea your frustration ran that deep. I shouldn't have let them interfere with our personal affairs." His arm around her waist tightened. "Are you feeling better though?"

Vinata, with hand cupping her own cheek, was smiling genuinely for the first time in many years. "Better isn't how I'd put it, but… what should I say? The existence of these three affirms the notion that our clan is the best in the world."

She looked down almost depressingly into the palms of her hands. "It's been hundreds of thousands of years since I've been among my kin… people other than you and Cepphus and Kalavinka. We used to hunt together, eat together, laugh together. After they died, I spent many years with the Ananta Clan and the Gods. Seeing Myna and Vegavis and even Avifauna, cheeky as he is, made me realize how lonely I've become."

About to continue, Vinata sighed without really thinking about it. Garuda leaned down and kissed her, momentarily frying her brain and making her forget her train of thought.

"That is the burden of Nastikas," he said, "to continue living while others die."

Still in awe, Vinata stood there dumbly, mouth agape until he nudged her.

"Vinata?"

"Uh-s-sorry, I spaced out there."

He resisted the urge to raise an eyebrow in amusement. "It's okay."

"Mmhm."

They stood awkwardly, unsure of what was safe to say. Silence elapsed. Tension gathered. Vinata twiddled her thumbs.

_Oh, what the hell. He's my husband. The planet's not going to burn down._

She yanked him down aggressively by the collar to kiss him again.

**S-C-N-D**

_N0 - approx. 54000 years_

**S-C-N-D**

Vinata insisted seeing his injury even after he assured her for the ten billionth time that it was fully healed. She just wouldn't have it. She was so adamant that he teasingly asked if she was only interested in seeing the wound and not his abdominal muscles. For that, he almost got another wound.

Garuda groaned and clutched his neck as he rose from the giant crater in the mountain, a courtesy of his wife. "Exactly how strong are you in your female form?" Accidentally, he let a begrudging edge slide into his tone. It was then that she realized something.

"Garuda," she called, jumping off the ledge. Vinata, suspended in midair grabbed his chin and turned him to face her. "Have you ever been female?"

"…" She let go when it was apparent that this was a bad subject for him.

But instead of being offended, he covered his face with a palm as if Vegavis had just informed him again that their Sura population was out of control. "I knew this was going to get out some day."

"Hm?"

She quickly withdrew her hand as white smoke began to rise from his fingertips. Vinata leaped back and landed, awestruck by the transformation of her husband and even more awestruck by the result of his transformation. Somehow, she'd always known that his female form was beautiful, but man did Garuda make her feel self-conscious about her own.

—That is, until the female Garuda slammed her fist straight into the wall of the mountain. Vinata closed one eye, expecting to hear a rumble reverberate throughout the ravines. What she heard instead was a small crack.

Waves of energy emanated from the white haired woman as she leaned forward and panted. Her white hair, disheveled, fell in strands and obscured most of her face. "Couldn't break a rock," Garuda bit out. "That's how weak I am."

It was then that Vinata noticed the cracks in the mountain wall that stretched out from where Garuda hit it. Although beyond what an average Rakshasa can inflict in human form, they didn't hold a candle to the size of her crater—and she hadn't even been using her full strength.

"Ah, is this why you didn't want to turn female for me? You men and your macho complexes. Maybe even more so for you since you're king, but I'll have you know that you're just as wonderful to me female as you are male." She smiled and put her right palm to her heart. "Had we encountered with me a man and you a woman, I'd have taken you over Shuri any day."

Garuda let out a small laugh as the smoke rose again. "Heh, you and Shuri?" he asked, emerging as a man. "Don't even joke about that. That's just absurd. She is from the Yaksha Clan and you are from mine. You guys are completely different things."

Vinata's feathers twitched. "I think you missed the point…"

"I didn't."

"Yes you did. I just gave you the most awesome speech of my life. That was like a defining moment in our relationship! Essentially I told you I'd accept—"

"I didn't miss the point." His voice was firm and his face a little grim.

She closed her mouth and lowered her shoulders, finally gripping the entire situation. Right. When she left her nest on that eventful day, she didn't just agree to be the wife of any Nastika. Garuda was not any Nastika. He was a king. And she was selfish to think that she could always keep him to herself. She had already been selfish enough in keeping him to herself for six thousand years.

"You know what?" she clasped his hands in hers. "Regardless of whether you missed the point or not, I want you to follow me for a while—no, actually I want your support for something I've been meaning to do."

Visnu once told her that she was more emotional in her female form, but hadn't she also told Garuda that regardless of gender, she was still the same person? The old Vinata would have been beyond humiliated at the emotional mess she'd been. And she was the wife of a king? What happened to measuring up to her rival? She'd only continued to fall below her husband's greatness. While he'd been the pillar that held up their clan, she acted as the weight that brought it down.

_And Garuda's ashamed of his female form? I'd rather be male than be needy. _She balled her hands into resolute fists. _If I can't do at least this much, then I don't deserve to have him._

"Let's see…" She glanced skyward. "You wanted to know how much I could do in my female form? Well, I'll show you."

She lifted them both into space in a split second. Before Garuda knew it, he found himself clenched in the claw of his wife. It was a tight fist she'd made but with their difference in size, there was more than enough room for him to move around.

He lifted his head up, although it would have made little difference seeing as the only things in sight were the gigantic red and orange feathers covering Vinata's breast. By turning his body, he could get a view of the thousands of red, white and blue stars zipping by at breakneck speed. It wasn't a route he recognized by star position so he lowered himself back into her fist and found a comfortable position to sit in.

"Are you intending for me to remain in human form at our destination? If not, I'm going to transform. It doesn't quite feel… right in this position."

One Nastika being on another in human form was seen as a very invasive action, even for married couples. As he was the one currently doing the invading, Garuda found it hard to savage any grace in this position.

Suddenly, he saw a ruffle from the corner of his eye. If he didn't know better, he'd have thought that the slight ruffle of feathers was Vinata sighing. She didn't say anything, however, so he dismissed it.

Unbeknownst to Garuda, it _was_ Vinata sighing and also repeating in her head rather intensely, _wife of a king… wife of a king…_

"Actually, that's not it." The voice that appeared in Garuda's head was surprisingly somber. "I just wanted to let you see what Kalavinka and I have been doing for the hundred thousand years we've been gone. I might not be able to tell you, exactly, but this will probably answer some questions."

He poked his body out because it felt like they were entering the atmosphere of a planet. It was good that he did too, as he soon discovered that he had one tenth of a second to prepare for a violent landing. Vinata, however, was not as considerate. Her claw jerked, whipping him out into the air where dust flew everywhere. Coughing, he flew up out of the cluster of dust into a purple sky.

A glint caught his eye.

_That's—_

"Do you see?"

He startled, dumbfounded enough by the landmark to temporarily forget her presence.

"It takes a while to absorb," he finally admitted. "I have not seen a Nastika corpse in some hundred thousand years."

"The first thing Kalavinka did after leaving the mountains is return to the site of Cepphus's death. I thought she was planning to spend the rest of her life unwilling to let go. I tried to stop her. In the end, I ended up following her here." Vinata heaved a deep sigh and her breath lifted another layer of dust off the ground but not high enough to reach Garuda. "After all these years, it still makes me sick.

"Nastikas are the strongest entities in the world and yes, it is a curse as much a blessing. But what about when we meet our own downfalls in wars with the gods and other clans? After Kalavinka died, I pondered for ten thousand years the inevitable outcome of this world. One day, there will be no Nastikas left. Then all Suras, unable to match the gods, will slowly but surely cease to exist. And maybe that will be the end of the universe. Or maybe Visnu will establish a new balance in the world, one where we will eventually become nothing but far off memories."

Garuda flew up and landed on her head, where the plumage wasn't as thick. "Actually, when Visnu made the human race, he did not think they would last very long. They were a faultily made defense for Nastikas and Astikas, taking on roughly the same shape as us should the need for camouflage arise." He closed his eyes briefly, trying to recall the words of his friend, when he had been the only close friend he had. A good two billion years had passed since then and Visnu no longer held the mystique he once held. Garuda no longer paid attention to his prophecies either, because Insight can always be changed. "What happened was," he explained tentatively, "that Visnu tried too many times to get the result he wanted."

Vinata blinked her eyes in surprise, a gesture that wobbled the spot Garuda was standing on. "He tried to get it? I thought Visnu knows what the future is."

"No, even Visnu does not know exactly what will happen. The best he can do is see which paths lead to disaster and try to steer the universe in a different direction. But even trial and error has its limits."

In his head, he saw an image of Visnu, with his back facing turned, staring into a white star that covered half the sky. _"It's been incredibly hard on you, Garuda, being alone for all these years. I've made it so that you can find people to warm up to. Because you don't expect anything but a friend to hear you out, I've even solved most of your problems for you. But know this: I can't possibly keep track of everything that's happening at the moment. I can always help you out the best I can, but time moves too quickly for anyone to exert complete control over the universe. In solving one problem, a million more arise. I have to choose carefully what to and what not to interfere in. Every time I try to get a certain result, I risk the possibility of having another force emerge that will lead to the destruction of the universe."_

Garuda never dwelled on those words long because no matter how many times Visnu tried to change the future, nothing disastrous ever befell them. However, he was well aware that it was only because he was a close friend, who Visnu deliberately put out of disaster's way. The accusation Indra made on Carte nagged at the back of his head. To what lengths was Visnu planning to go to protect his comrades? Yet what of what Gandharva had told him, about him being the second last to leave? If that was true, then eventually won't there also have to be a first?

"Let's just say that Visnu skews the future every time he interferes. He can only control one event at any given time; everything else could be spiraling out of control for all he's concerned. As a result, the humans, who normally wouldn't have been this successful, are."

She smiled remorsefully. "What is that? That just makes me feel bad. Maybe if I were as close a friend to Visnu as you are, those two could have been saved. And just when I told myself I was going to be a little less selfish from now on…"

"There's no knowing what's going to happen until it does. Don't think too much of it and don't take Visnu's words to heart. I did once and I made a fool of myself." He cringed a little, recalling a time when he feared that Vinata would sit on his throne. "Focus on the present and when death comes, it comes."

"To speak so easily of death… I'm almost afraid to admire you. In any case, it looks like most of your lieutenants are no longer viable. Let's cross our fingers and hope we stay out of war until the power of the eight clans are balanced once again."

Vinata was deeply pondering, but she wasn't pondering war. At least, she didn't seem to be. Garuda could feel her body emitting heat, though her uncanny stillness suggested that she was unaware of it herself. Or perhaps she was planning something?

A sudden flash of red! He perked up.

But it wasn't anything really. She was just craning her head right to get at an itch, rocking him as she did. Standing sideways, Garuda resisted the urge to punch himself in the face. Of course. Of course he would over-analyze all her actions and put merit into what had none. He had a feeling it was going to be the norm from now on.

"Well." She cracked her knuckles. "You should hold on tight. It's nothing personal, just that somehow Visnu found it befitting to give me Transcendencies that are a little crazier than most."

Strong gusts of wind whipped his hair back violently as Vinata brought them to a closer proximity to Cepphus's frozen body. Even while encased in a block of ice, the details were no less gruesome. All over his body, there were shredded feathers, flaking black blood that was easy to spot because it still shone, and dangling strips flesh. He looked like death.

"Why did Kalavinka freeze her husband?" He grasped the concept that it was excruciating for a Nastika to let go of their mate. If Vinata left somehow, he doubted he'd ever be able to fully recover from the loss. But if he made it so that he had to stare at her mangled body every day, he'd lose his mind entirely.

"The humans," she answered unexpectedly. "She did it because of their disregard for Suras. The bones of the once great Yaksha are to them nothing more than little artifacts that enable the capture of Halfs. I've been on a few human planets and I've seen the things they do to us. They dry the bodies of Gandharva's kin, eat hearts from Shuri's children, and decorate their cloaks with feathers from our bodies. Cepphus would have been no exception and someone was bound to find him sooner or later."

"If I ever see your feathers decorating any humans, I'd gladly dismember them."

"Against the wishes of Visnu?"

"Visnu will make an exception for me," he stated confidently.

"Of course. I suspect that he'd go to the end of the world for you if you'd asked. I would have done so for Cepphus and Kalavinka. I'm jealous of the friendship you have with them while my friends are…" She gestured to the structure with her wing. "Well, I better stop dawdling while I'm in my Sura form. If your female form has pathetic strength, then mine has pathetic endurance. You know, had you not interfered, Cepphus probably would have won that battle."

It took him a moment to realize that she was referring to the first time he'd seen her female. It was so long ago that he couldn't remember many details of that battle, just that he had been too distracted by the absurdity of her female body to think coherently. Yes, it was that absurdity that drew her to his attention and eventually put her at the centre of it.

"In my male form, I can probably obliterate the entire planet's crust with this attack. But right now, this is the best I can do."

A sharp whistle sounded the sudden intake of air as she opened her beak. In the space before her, a small flame lit. In a matter of seconds, it grew to the size of Vinata's head. She drew back her wings and sent it flying, giving it an additional boost of wind as she did.

The fireball spiraled toward Cepphus's frozen body. Garuda got a glimpse of black feathers for the last time as it went up in flames—corpse, ice and all. As quick as they lit, the flames extinguished, leaving behind huge wisps of smoke, mist and a charred crater. Nothing about the land suggested that a Nastika had once died here.

"It's the best I can do," she muttered absentmindedly to herself, her glazed eyes trained on the spot where Cepphus had once been.

"Why did you do it?"

"Why did I do it? Why destroy the one thing that was left? Because if I hadn't done it, someone else would have and I can't bear that thought. It's akin to what Kalavinka did for her husband and maybe I will regret this one day but right now it seems like the right decision."

She lowered him to the ground right before she transformed back into a woman. The crater before them was nothing smaller than a medium sized lake. Together with Garuda, Vinata took a few minutes of her time to admire the scene.

Finally, lifting her head, she whispered to mist and ashes, "well, Cepphus, Kalavinka, I guess it's sufficient to say that this is the official end of us."

**S-C-N-D**

That was an apt finish to this chapter in Vinata's life, methinks. And it sets the tone for Garuda, Visnu and the Rakshasa siblings. But first, there are fifty three thousand years of rocky courtship left to go.

Thank you for reading! Please leave a review!

-SCND


	18. The Most Dysfunctional Couple

Slightly on the "meh" side. Actually I've written this some four or five times and am totally wiped out. Although I have an event plan, it seems that my execution quality is slowly deteriorating.

I made up Varuna's personality before she appeared in The Finite. After reading that, I thought to myself, _this doesn't sound like her at all..._ But I'm past trying to make this chapter acceptable in any way so I'm going to use the old time excuse. Since this, she had thirty seven thousand years to change. A lot can happen in that time. Probably.

Edit: fixed the time error.

Disclaimer: There are many things in this world that do not belong to me. Kubera is one of them.

**S-C-N-D**

Courtship of a Phoenix

…

"Move."

A skinny dark figure with a pile of paperwork bulldozed through the crowds of hell. The poor, unsuspecting souls that weren't able to react fast enough to his command were crudely tossed aside.

"Another ten thousand years here…" he grumbled. "Stupid Yaksha Clan…"

A nearby goddess, while giggling with her boyfriend, caught sight of her disgruntled comrade. "My, my! Well, look who's here! Join the party, Chandra!"

With one arm, she swept aside half a dozen stacks of paperwork and patted the now vacant spot beside her.

"Varuna, Varuna's boytoy," Chandra greeted. When she took offense, he rolled his eyes and snorted, "what? It's not like he'll still be around by the time Agni lets you out."

"Be a bit more considerate, else I'll just keep all the good news to myself."

Chandra said nothing as he set down his paperwork where hers used to be.

"Fine, whatever." She tossed her silky blue hair back. "Guess you don't want to hear about Garuda's new wife."

He didn't even bother to pause his shuffling. "You mean the one he keeps glued to his side while hunting? Those uncouth birds. Pathetic."

"Oh, that's not all. I was just visited by Vayu before getting sent down here. You won't believe who she is…"

…

**Chapter Eighteen: The Most Dysfunctional Couple**  
_N0 - approx. 38000 years_

…

"Protect me."

Vinata latched a death grip onto his arm, which Garuda tried his best to shake off to no avail.

"I'm serious," she said, gripping it tighter. "Hoards of gods coming after me for what I've done to them."

The wide eyed plea weakened his resolve and he almost caved. Her lips trembled and she pressed closer to him. His hand reached out before he could stop himself. It settled shakily on her head, tousling her hair. She reached her arms around him and he embraced her tightly. She was so warm, but it was the kind of warmth that was independent of him.

Images of her devious smiles suddenly assailed his brain.

The shield was back in effect. "Why do you _always_ find it necessary to do this to me?"

She only clutched him tighter.

"Vinata," he bent down to whisper in her ear, "protect yourself."

She was dumbfounded he slipped out of her arms and left.

Defeated yet again, Vinata sighed as she covered her face with a hand. Why could he not ever let go of his kingly pride? That way, she wouldn't have to go out of her way to pretend to be weak. This damsel in distress act was really becoming unbecoming. It was also turning into an addiction. The more he ignored her, the more desperately she wanted to get his attention.

_I hope I don't end up becoming like Utpala_, she thought with a shiver.

"No luck with the husband?" The voice was monotonous. Only two people in her clan spoke in that way.

"Ah!" she piped up a little overly cheerfully. "Avifauna, have you come to defend the merit of your son's near death?"

He shot her a dirty look. "You know, Vinata, it may not stick through your thick skull, but presently, I am stronger than you. Shouldn't you be a little more considerate when speaking to me?"

She tilted her head and blinked, evidently waiting for him to continue. Avifauna kept his mouth shut.

"What, that's it?" she asked after a minute. "Was that the threat?"

Avifauna himself was tempted to ask her whether she was trying to threaten him with Garuda. To his better judgement, he kept his mouth firmly shut to think of a more intelligent response.

"I don't mean to belittle your manly moment, nor do I mean to burst your bubble, but you have _never_ posed as a threat to me." Much to his chagrin, Vinata grinned so hard that her lower eyelids curved up.

"Because you have Garuda to back you up? To clean after your fiascos?" he snapped. It was more his style to negotiate than goad, but Vinata's words were very provocative and he was nothing short of provoked. "A female Nastika chasing her mate… this kind of thing is unheard of in the Sura world. Has there ever been a more dysfunctional couple?"

"Vasuki and Sagara?"

Avifauna was temporarily stumped. "Yes… but they're snakes," he dismissed with a wave of his hand, "so they don't count. However, since you brought them up, I have to say that your habit is worse than Sagara's by far. It's unsightly having to see you seducing him at every meeting, every hunt. Don't you know that you caused our clan to be the subject of all ridicule?"

She gave him a sombre stare that he never thought possible of person like Vinata. For an inexplicable reason, Avifauna pictured Garuda overlapping with his wife, resulting in a grim red-white Sura with a fiery temper. He clutched his head to steady himself. After blinking several times, the image disappeared.

Then, a terrifying thought almost sent shivers down his feather coat. _Oh lord, what will become of this clan when they start having _kids_?_

Vinata, oblivious to his inner turmoil, made no mystery of her displeasure. "Avifauna," she snapped him out of his thoughts with her menacing tone, "you better be careful. Though I choose to live as a woman, I am certainly not above putting you in your place, should you forget it."

Though initially distasteful, the brown Nastika's expression soon became almost smug.

"Now's not the time to lash back at a little criticism, my queen. If you get so riled up at my words alone, I can't imagine what you would do to the rest of your former supporters who've run off to the Sura Realm to find Robin."

There was a name she hadn't heard in almost a billion years.

"Robin?" she laughed disbelievingly. "The misandrist? What could possibly delude them to believe that she would even listen to a single word?"

Robin was the very power-hungry, very green Nastika who left Garuda's mountains a little prior to the Seven Thousand Year War. Dismayed to find her female form stronger, she threatened to kill any man who attempted to court her. Since she had been ranked fourth, that strategy proved to be effective for a while. However, the lack of female Nastikas remained a pressing concern, and many did decide to take the risk. Visnu had to personally stop her from putting Garuda Nastikas into extinction. However, tension still ran high in the clan and she still refused to mingle or mate with any males. When the Seven Thousand Year War broke out, she was the only Nastika who refused to side with Garuda or Vinata. Instead, she cussed them out in front of the clan and announced that she had neither patience nor place in crude and unsightly disputes of machismo, right before vanishing to where even Surya couldn't find her.

"Word in the sky is that Robin met a female Nastika and got involved." Avifauna shrugged his shoulders and kept his arms in a W shape. "With her, she had a child, who surprisingly turned out to be a son. Also, it seems that the son looks excessively like his mother's male form, which usually wouldn't be a big deal. Unfortunately, his mother just turns out to be one of Robin's old suitors, who used to be especially persistent and annoying back in the old day. Since Robin couldn't kill a woman, she settled for killing the son instead. But the mother hid the son too well so in the end, she gave up and left for the Sura Realm. Only recently did some of your former supporters go out of their way to look for her. Now she's convinced that you blew up the surface of Carte while her son was on it. Needless to say, she's ecstatic."

Vinata did not know whether to put her hand to her forehead or slowly inch away. Finally, she squinted her eyes incredulously. "Are you pulling this story out of your tail feathers?"

"No."

"Then… your wings?"

"No…"

"Are you sure? You don't sound so sure."

"Robin did have a son," he huffed, although it sounded more like he was trying to convince himself than Vinata. "She also thinks that she's doing you a favour by picking up this rivalry with Garuda, which is why the balance of our clan is once again jeopardized. You know, it occurs to me that you never once thought about cleaning up this political mess that you left behind."

"I thought they were gone!" was her feeble yet much too chirpy excuse to defend her past actions. "Didn't they give up hope after I turned female?"

Suddenly, the ground began shaking beneath her. All the other mountains stayed put, so Vinata knew that it wasn't an earthquake. Her first instinct was to spread her wings and fly. Her body, however, was not as compliant. Very quickly, it leadened and rooted. Even for a typical Nastika, it wasn't hard to summon a little vigor to overcome the pressure. However, Avifauna's ability was a little different than the rest and it was precisely because of it that he was deemed the third strongest of the clan. Vinata tried her best to stand steady, a feat hard to accomplish when in her mind, she was incessantly on the verge of sinking straight into the ground.

"Put me in my place, did you say? Seems like nothing more than a bluff."

"Fine," she snapped irritably, folding her arms. Her legs, much to her dismay, were still visibly trembling. "You have my undivided attention. What do you want me to do?"

The sinking stopped and Avifauna sighed. What he would give for her to become a little more responsible on her own.

"Prove to me and to the rest of our clan why you are deserving of your title. You can start by cleaning up the mess you made."

**S-C-N-D**

_N0 - approx. 37000 years_

**S-C-N-D**

A crowd of a hundred gathered in a wild and ragged land. Gods didn't spend much time in the God Realm when there were other, more beautiful places they could be. As a result, it became common to organize campaigns here in a place that was neither barren nor brimming with life. In fact, today the grass looked internally trampled and the air felt even stuffier with the crowd. Chandra threw brief glances at the one and two zen gods he didn't know existed.

Beside him, Varuna stood proud and strong as she properly surveyed the divine beings. He was impressed with the crowd she'd amassed, but why was there a glaring absence of higher leveled gods? Against a Nastika, Astikas of one and two zen level would hardly be of use.

"You couldn't have gotten Surya?"

"Summoned."

"Indra?"

"Paperwork."

"Agni?"

"Not interested in fire types since his humiliating loss against Vasuki."

Chandra was getting desperate.

"Vayu?"

"Resting."

"What do you mean _resting_?"

She humphed and crossed her arms. "You try talking to him when he's in one of his moods."

He wanted to extinguish the sun somehow… somehow. "Fine, what about Kubera?"

"Grumpy."

He stared in disbelief. "Did you even try?"

Varuna, impatient, gestured to the crowd. "Look, there are plenty here that are of use. Asvins and Marut persuaded some four zen gods. I also purposely recruited assist types so we can focus on the attacking throughout the battle. We've got the advantage of attribute, even if Garuda happens to show up. It doesn't take that big of a party to strike down a female Nastika."

Chandra bit his nails with a vengeance. What Varuna said was true, but Vinata wasn't just any female Nastika. He was sure that she would be just as wild, just as feral as she had been every single time he was hunted. He had been lucky that Shuri, Garuda, and most of the light types were relatively merciful when it came to killing. Then, Vinata had taken an interest in him. Curse Vinata and her obsession with her king. Because of her, his entire life turned into a cat and mouse game that left him deprived of many normal godly joys.

"Where's your boyfriend?" he asked, suddenly remembering.

"What boyfriend? One does not bring former lovers to war."

_As I thought_, he sighed inwardly, _poor guy really was just a pastime for her sentence in hell._

He scrutinized what the gods and humans considered a divine beauty. Varuna was stretching and cranking her arm back with loud cracks. He supposed she could be considered a beautiful warrior by some, but in his eyes, she was too often stained with Sura blood. He had always been repulsed by her gruesome habits of slaying.

"We leave on the day of Vayu, hour of Surya." Vayu for a fast journey and Surya to lead the way. It was tradition for Varuna to honour those two gods, her two best allies.

Chandra personally thought it was a silly tradition, but he merely shrugged. Varuna would be useful for extinguishing Vinata's flames, which was, in the end, the most important thing.

"Fine by me."

**S-C-N-D**

_N0 - approx. 37000 years_

**S-C-N-D**

Clear sky.

Good wind.

Perfect day to set out on a journey.

As Vinata surveyed the land with her hand flat against her eyebrows, Avifauna leaned on a boulder with his eyes shut. "It's futile to approach the problem from this angle," he warned her. "Instead of trying to find Robin, you should attack the root of the uprising.

"Which is?"

"Are your supporters."

She tilted her head to the side. "Really? I'm having a hard time seeing how it's more helpful to try and handle a hundred Nastikas when I can just handle one."

He resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "One day, you'll regret this."

"Now you just sound like Chandra."

Even Avifauna knew when to let it go. With one last glare, he turned and walked away. Vinata watched his figure from the corner of her eye. Though he gave the appearance of leaving, she knew he was watching from a distance. There had always been mutual distrust between them.

She shook her head while raising her two hands, finger open, to eye level. One by one, she folded her fingers slowly with a big, foolish grin in place.

"Six…"

"What the hell are you doing?" She could literally feel Avifauna fuming from a distance.

Vinata turned. "Ah! There you are. I knew you couldn't have gone far. I was just counting down the number of weeks I would be away from my husband dearest." Then, clutching her hands, she exclaimed dramatically, "oh, he must be so lonely without me here!"

"Just. Go." He nearly seethed.

The grin dropped from Vinata's face. She lowered her head to a descending angle so that the other Nastika could not read her eyes. "Avifauna… This is just between you and me, okay? Don't tell Garuda that I'm leaving to find Robin. If he notices my absence, tell him I've gone hunting. I know you're supposed to be loyal to him, but please do me this one favour in exchange for saving Vegavis's life."

With a quaint smile, she disappeared into the sky, leaving Avifauna to stare blankly at the glaring sun. Before long, he shut his eyes in frustration. It just_ had_ to be them, huh? His king and queen. The most dysfunctional couple in all eight clans.

**S-C-N-D**

Robin's son is… you guessed it: the yellow green Rakshasa that Garuda talked to. His mother will not appear in CoaP. As a matter of fact, she might not ever be mentioned again. She's not important.

For the wonderful guest who left a review for me, this story is following a made up timeline and not a scientific one. Humans are created near the beginning of the universe, have been civilized since N0 - 970000 years and created Mistyshore around N0 - 420000 years. Hah. Not exactly accurate. Haha. In any case, I am not a reliable narrator. Q-Q However, most of this story either takes place in the Garuda Mountains (Ch74) or on some random barren planet which would probably look like the Sura Realm. These places remain relatively unchanged in many years. :D

Thank you for reading! Please leave a review!

-SCND


	19. Husband

Whew, long chapter! So this is an intermediate chapter where we slowly travel from the problem to the solution, although we won't reach it that quickly. I promise that all loose ends and questions will be tied up in the next chapter. Maruna appears in the one after. (Finally!) Yippeeee!

Asvins's gender has yet to be revealed, but somehow I get the feeling that she's female.

Disclaimer: There are many things in this world that do not belong to me. Kubera is one of them.

**S-C-N-D**

Courtship of a Phoenix

…

"Avifauna, where's Vinata?"

"The queen does not wish for you to know where she is, my king."

"Oh. All right," he sighed dejectedly. Lately, things haven't been going good between them at all, but he didn't want to succumb to that ridiculous front she was constantly putting up. He intended to tell her that she had no need to do such silly things, only to find her gone from the land.

Wait a minute…

It wasn't until Avifauna was gone a good half mile that Garuda caught the implication. Faster than the speed of light, he dashed to the brown Nastika and pressed a silver sword to his throat. Avifauna was so caught off guard that he nearly died of a heart attack.

"What is the meaning of this?" Garuda demanded scathingly. "If Vinata doesn't want me to know about her whereabouts, then why do _you_ know where _my_ wife is?"

…

**Chapter Nineteen: Husband**  
_N0 - approx. 37000 years_

…

Spread across the first four planets of a solar system was Chandra and Varuna's entire Kill Vinata campaign. It wasn't exactly what one would call successful from the get-go. One and two zen gods incessantly moaned about toxic atmospheres and extreme temperatures they had to endure. A few three zen gods fidgeted with impatience as Marut reiterated Varuna's orders in loud barks.

She was, after all, known to be a slave driver.

Chandra stood on his tip-toes, a habit he'd developed to increase his stealth. Most gods would fail to notice him creeping up on them. Varuna did, though she did not show it.

"I don't understand how this battle plan could be successful," he complained. "No matter what you say, it won't be _that _easy to kill a Nastika. And those grumbling idiots over there are throwing away our advantage of stealth."

The pale, blue-haired god had a patient, almost doll-like quality to her face. Her long lashes fluttered to the beat of his words. Indeed, Chandra did remember one of her many suitors comparing her beauty to that of a porcelain doll. His guts went splat later when she left to pick a fight with Vritra.

"Stealth is not the only weapon in battle," Varuna said, snapping him out of his ruminations. "Against someone like Vinata, it would hardly be of any use. Isn't she long accustomed to your fighting style?"

At this, Chandra grumbled childishly.

Varuna's eyes flitted from one planet to the next, clearly mapping out an advantageous formation in her head. "As for our underlings, don't fault them for being so. How many one and two zen gods have the excitement of hunting a Nastika in their lives?"

"Not many three or four zen gods get to hunt Nastikas either," added Asvins, leaping from space onto solid land. Her feet caught the gloppy, viscous substance that covered the planet's surface and she flung it off in dismay. "It is—" kick "—mostly—" kick "—five zen gods like Chandra-nim and Varuna-nim who can stand up to them. Arg! What the hell is on this place? Couldn't you have chosen a better hiding spot, Varuna-nim?"

Ignoring Asvins's fussing, Varuna praised, "but you are quite modest, Asvins. Your sealing ability is very useful. Word has it that you even killed a Garuda Nastika several decades ago. The rest of us were quite impressed!"

"You flatter me." Her tone was still sour from the sticky mess she'd trapped herself in.

Chandra turned away from their frivolous conversation, springing into the dark space. This was his domain. Here, as if drawing a veil over his body, he became one with the universe itself. Like this, even the most vigilant of Suras could not spot him.

"Eh?" Asvins whipped her head to and fro in search of Chandra. "I thought the plan was for him to stay close so he could amplify your attacks."

"Don't be so insulting, m'dear" Varuna replied crisply. "My attacks don't need amplifying."

As if to demonstrate, she summoned a humongous wave of water in an otherwise dry land. Varuna's Transcendency quickly grew to the size of a moon and then a planet. On her command, it surged in front of all the gods just in time to smother the storm of fireballs headed their way. The violent clash of attacks resulted in tremendous steam that completely veiled the attacking Sura.

"Already?" hissed Asvins, quickly hopping away from the planet to direct another regiment. Halfway there, the Nastika tossed a flaming blitz her way. Before anyone had a chance to counter the attack, Asvins screeched in pain. Even the battle goddess cringed and shut an eye to block out the unholy sound of burning limbs.

Seconds later, the four zen god vanished in a green cloud of smoke.

Varuna slapped a hand to forehead. Countermeasure one was officially ruled out. Even worse, Asvins's death brought on the remaining gods a wave of frenzy. For reasons beyond Varuna, they began throwing themselves head on at the Nastika, completely breaking formation. So much for battle tactics. In the end, Chandra was the only one she could rely on after all.

"Support me," she yelled into the air, knowing he'd be listening.

Summoning a torrent of water beneath her feet, Varuna launched into space. Even though the mist was only beginning to clear out, she could make out the rough figure of a giant bird.

"Is that her?" she yelled. No harm in making sure. She had never battled Vinata in Sura form and it would be pointless if this turned out to be another Nastika.

"Chandra?" She made a fist. "If you run out on me, I swear on my strongest Transcendency that you're going to want to hide behind Agni and Yama for the next ten thousand years."

"I'm here," a wispy voice replied. If sounds could be seen, his words would appear transparent; only ones specifically listening for him could hear. "Yes, that is Vinata. Your regiments seem to have lost their minds."

"I know." She scowled. "Curse Asvins for being so hasty. It's you and me now."

"Heh. At least the birdbrain's just as occupied."

Chandra was right. Vinata was blasting gods out of space left and right. It was almost as if she didn't care where she fired because her Transcendencies would hit someone regardless. The entire mess of the assault made Varuna tempted to bang her head against a rock.

Only, it seemed like Chandra did it first, though it was not so much him banging his head against a rock as a rock smacking him upside the head. He kissed his teeth loud and clear.

"You all right?"

"Doesn't seem like she got much weaker in her female form," he hissed sourly. "Even her Transcendencies are the same. She's toying with us, Varuna. At this rate, if she morphs back into her male form, we'll all be done for."

Varuna frowned as her robes flapped wildly in the hot wind. "Chandra…" she fisted her cloak tightly. "Do not forget that Vinata is one of the Garuda Clan, a tribe defined by hubris." Her calculating, shrewd eyes narrowed at Marut's attempts to get the gods back in order. "If we were against an Ananta Nastika like Sagara, there would be no doubt in my mind that she would assume male form for battle, but Vinata..." Even now, she could begin to see it—the bird faltering ever so slightly in her movements as she shook off the parasitic gods. "If Vinata willingly committed herself to another, battle or not, she would not turn back on her word."

Still, even if that were true, it was only a small advantage. Unlike Varuna, Chandra hadn't a bit of experience with battle campaigns. No, he was much more of a solitary fighter. As such, it was difficult for him to spot his opponent's weaknesses from the sidelines. To him, it was unquestionable that their side was the one losing.

He made himself visible. "I will go assist Marut."

But before he could act, Varuna yanked his arm and collapsed them both on the sticky floor.

"What the hell are you doing?" Chandra nearly screamed. Here he was fretting his head off. Their army was in shambles! Granted, Varuna was the five zen god with the second least amount of deaths—the least being Yama—but how could she be so levelheaded in this time of urgency?

"Patience, Chandra," she scolded folding her legs as if she were leisurely floating on a lilypad. "In this battle, endurance is the key. While Marut reorganizes the front lines, we must stay behind to watch for her weaknesses."

What a cold, unfeeling god Varuna was. Hundreds of gods leaping to their deaths and to her, this was nothing more than a cruise in the park. Hot-blooded Chandra desperately wanted to throw himself into the fray. Only Varuna's battle expertise kept him rooted to the spot beside her.

This was an unquestionable display of bloody fireworks. Sometimes his colleagues tried to find strength in numbers, only to have all their innards splat on some planet's surface. The fight or flight syndrome grew with every passing second. Each time he heard a scream, Chandra jerked with the temptation to leap up and charge.

"Varuna!" Finally, he couldn't hold it in any longer. "Doesn't this bother you at all?"

Her cold eyes turned his way in a glare that almost made him shiver. "No, Chandra, they don't. Now stay still, because your fidgeting is starting to get on my last nerve."**  
**

**S-C-N-D**

_N0 - approx. 37000 years_

**S-C-N-D**

The gods may have fooled themselves into launching an ambush, but she actually planned to charge head on into their trap all along.

At least that was what Vinata told herself.

Regardless of how it began, she now found herself in a little bit of a predicament.

Honestly, when she told Garuda that hundreds of gods were after her hide, she hadn't meant it literally. But seeing as Asvins and Marut were included in the aforementioned hundreds, everything somehow made a lot more sense. How dare those warmongers hunt her after all they'd done? She attacked the antsy creatures with all the force and fury she could conjure.

_Kalavinka_, she repeated in her head with each and every strike. _Kalavinka, Kalavinka, Kalavinka!_

Luckily, this bunch was weak. They perished rather quickly. Had they been gods of higher zen, she wouldn't have enough confidence to face them by herself.

Vinata knew better than to let her guard down though. She still hadn't forgotten the initial wave that nullified one of her stronger Transcendencies. No god could summon water from a dry land except for Varuna. Vinata knew that particular scoundrel was hiding somewhere behind the flanks of gods, biding her time for the Nastika's vigor to wear out.

She wouldn't allow that to happen.

Swiveling, she made a beeline for the white star, leaving the gods befuddled over the act—as they should be. Lowly Astikas measured nowhere near her level of genius. From this position, she had a geographical and elemental advantage. Any god apart from Agni would surely perish under the intense temperature.

She smirked as they retreated to the nearest planet. Unable to approach, the fools congregated, making it all the easier for her to obliterate the pests—along with the planet, of course. Go big or go home—that had always been her motto.

"Vinata."

Her smirk grew. "Varuna, so you finally make your move."

It didn't take long for her to descry a blue figure in the pandemonium. Varuna made herself surprisingly easy to spot. The water god was the only one standing and waving leisurely. Chandra accompanied her and he, too, looked like he was in no hurry.

_What are they plan_—_no!_

Vinata wasn't given much more of a warning. When solar flares began acting up, she realized the dirty trick they'd pulled. She scrutinized her surroundings only to find, to her dismay, divine beings armed in every direction. Somehow, the gods managed to reorganize their formations under Marut's command. Even now, as she was preoccupied with finding an escape route, the star was already shaking violently beneath her talons.

Shit.

That was the only word appropriate for her situation.

She managed to direct one final blow at the five zen gods before becoming one with the supernova. Varuna and Chandra easily avoided the attack. The rest of the gods already retreated to the outer planets.

"Did we get her?" Chandra was nothing but giddy with delight.

"No," Marut informed. "I saw a crescent."

Ecstasy quickly turned into frustration. No god would ever dream to battle in the Sura Realm. It was a place almost exclusive to Nastikas, and strong ones at that. Even a Sura would have trouble surviving in the Sura Realm, for food was scarce and the atmosphere usually lethal.

"What now?" he grumbled, fully expecting Varuna to announce the end of their campaign.

She didn't. Instead, she smiled icily. "What now? Where would an injured Nastika possibly go other than the place she came from?"

Chandra's eyes lit with understanding and his jagged teeth bore a semi maniacal grin. "Ah, the Garuda Mountains."

**S-C-N-D**

_N0 - approx. 37000 years_

**S-C-N-D**

Gleaming crimson eyes met the battered woman.

"What's this? An injured Garuda Nastika sent straight to my home? This is almost as good as a proposal from Ananta himself!"

Visnu had to be punishing her for her past deeds. What other reason was there for the rotten luck she'd endured today? First ambushed by the gods, and just when she thought she escaped, what did the universe give her but one mentally unstable Ananta Nastika? Though she had been surprisingly isolated, there was no question that Sagara had full vigor while Vinata was nearly exhausted.

Why couldn't she have encountered a Rakshasa instead?

"Ah, a gigantic snake! How lucky for me. _I'm starving._" The growl, however, was hardly threatening when her body was bathed in black blood.

There was no hope of deceiving Sagara from the beginning. Her purple tongue flipped against her lips. "Come to think of it, aren't you that crazy Nastika who killed four other of my clan members?"

"The fifth will be you."

"You're a bad liar," she snickered, red eyes flaring. "I know the pact your husband made with Ananta, so Vinata—" the hideous grin widened as Sagara bared her sharp fangs "—you better start running."

A Garuda Nastika running from an Ananta Sura? If anyone from her clan found out, they'd never let her live it down. But Vinata was desperate and above all, embarrassed by her past behaviour. Hell would have to freeze over if Garuda's last memory was of a needy wife who couldn't sort out her own affairs. Since this was the Sura realm, all was not lost. She just needed to find an ally before Sagara caught up.

Curse her tiny stamina for making it impossible to open another gate. How long could she survive here without someone willing to deliver her back to the Sura Realm? She was so tired, so hungry. Vinata desperately wanted to sink her fangs into Sagara's flesh, but as tempting as the thought went, it just wasn't viable.

"You're faltering in your flight, _queen_!" the maniacal snake laughed from behind her.

Furious, Vinata shot a fireball at her, which Sagara easily deflected.

Goddamn female form! She hated this feeling, the feeling of being chased, of being the prey. Since the beginning of time, she had always been the hunter. As a man, she would have laughed and clouted anyone for even suggesting this scenario.

But she wasn't a man anymore, was she?

_It's not supposed to be this hard! _She screamed in her head. _For once, just once, can't I do anything without Garuda's help? Visnu, give me a Rakshasa. Just… give me a Rakshasa. One and I'll be fine._

As much as she pleaded, no Rakshasa came her way. However, she was blessed with some mountains nearby. As Garuda had no kingdoms in the Sura Realm, that was the best place she could take refuge in. The Ananta Clan was, after all, terribly afraid of high altitudes.

Vinata lowered herself onto the tallest peak. She could only hope, now, that Sagara would not climb up. She had a few sky based Transcendencies useful for this situation, but she wasn't sure how many times she could shoot the snake down with this level of vigor.

Again, Vinata cursed her infinitesimal vigor. But what was the point anymore? Resentment wasn't going to get herself out of this predicament. In fact, she couldn't think of anything that would. It wasn't as if Garuda or Avifauna or any other Nastika from her clan would suddenly show up in the Sura Realm. Half of them hated her. The other half hated the fact that she was now the wife of their revered leader.

"Troubled, are you?" the voice of a female child suddenly queried, causing her to whip around belligerently.

"No need to attack. It's just me."

The stranger had an appearance of a small girl, about eight years old in physical age. She was clearly of Garuda heritage, as evident by the green markings against her striking emerald eyes. They brought a strong sense of déjà vu in the red Nastika. As the child bent over glance at a scowling Sagara below, a bell finally rang in Vinata's head. The feathery, turquoise scimitar gave her identity away. Robin and her beloved scimitar.

Upon spotting the other Nastika, Sagara's expression morphed into one of utmost fright.

"Oh, you brought food for me," the green child chirped. "How nice of you, Vinata! I don't like killing women, but I do _love_ snakes."

Now it was Sagara's turn to run, though she could never even hope to outrun Robin whose Origin Attribute, if Vinata remembered correctly, was wind.

"What brings you here, queen?" Robin now turned to her.

Vinata's heart leapt with unease.

Robin only appeared amiable because she believed the phoenix killed her son—a very unstable assumption to hinge their relationship on. Furthermore, she was powerless in her tattered state. How could she convince Robin to stop the uprising, something the latter viewed as a _favour_ to Vinata, without offending her?

Taking a deep breath, the queen straightened her back. She prayed that she would somehow project the same poise and confidence Garuda projected daily. "I've been told that you want to repay me for killing your son."

"Ah, him!" Vinata took a step back in surprise when Robin suddenly grew from an eight year old child to a big woman that towered considerably above her. "Actually I was on the verge of forgetting him until some of _your _people showed up." Her eyes glinted with murderous intent. She spoke as if she had no affiliation with the Garuda Clan at all. "Well, they should be glad that it was good news that reached my ears, those stupid males. As if I had any intention of embodying their inane ambitions from the beginning."

Well that was certainly a surprise, but not a bad one by far.

"Forget about the other Nastikas then. If you can send me back to the Garuda Mountains, I'll consider the favour repaid."

"Send you back?" she scoffed disbelievingly, narrowing her critical green eyes. "After all those years I spent carefully distancing myself from _that _bunch, you expect me to just reveal myself to them? If I were really stingy, I would consider saving you from Sagara payment enough._ Sagara._ Really, Vinata. What have the last two billion years done to you?"

She bit her tongue in frustration. Ah, yes. Now she remembered. Robin had always been the hardest to negotiate with. Out of the entire clan, she was the most stubborn and headstrong Nastika, which, incidentally, would also explain why she was disliked by so many.

Not that it mattered anyway. She hated them back with twice the amount of fervor.

"Send me back to the mountains," the phoenix repeated. "Send all the Nastikas back to the mountains and I'll make sure that they never hinder you again. You don't kill them. Our clan doesn't suffer. Visnu doesn't interfere. And in the end, you can retain your solitary lifestyle."

Robin stared long and hard at the queen. Vinata, unfaltering under her scrutiny, tried her best to appear sincere. However, sincerity wasn't something she held in high esteem. Robin was a person who would agree to any offer as long as it was to her advantage. Fortunately, she decided that the pros of Vinata's offer outweighed the cons.

"You're lucky to have met me as a woman, although somehow you still look rather distastefully manly. But I suppose Garuda likes his mates that way."

Swiveling, Robin drew her scimitar. She raised it well above her head and slashed in a downward motion, slicing open the opposite mountain face in a black and red crescent. Vinata immediately recognized the star positioning on the other side. As expected, Robin didn't send her directly to the GarudaMountains. She sent her one solar system over. As Vinata was in no position to complain, she quickly leaped into the crescent before it closed.

No further than two steps into the Human Realm, a wave of water crashed over her. Panicked, Vinata glanced back only to find that the portal to the Sura Realm had already closed.

Tap. Tap.

The sound of Varuna and Chandra's feet landing on earth had never been more ominous. Vinata clutched her hands in fists and growled, but it was something like the feeble cry of an elk against a pack of wolves. They approached in a predatory manner, eyes fixed on her and hands raised with their respective elements at the ready.

As a last resort, the Nastika shrouded her figure in fire.

Chandra took a step forward first. "I heard that phoenixes go up in flames right before they die." Another step. "Of course, phoenixes also resurrect. Nastikas, however, are not so lucky."

He brought his twiggy hand into the air, ready to strike her with a Transcendency. Vinata anticipated at least that much. Ten times faster, she delivered a solid fist straight into Chandra's chest, knocking him back to Varuna's side.

Even with her body drooping wearily, she glared at the two gods with a scathing vengeance. "Don't get too far ahead of yourself," she panted heavily. "What do you take Nastikas for? I don't need vigor for physical attacks. As long as I still have stamina, you aren't touching a single feather on my body."

Chandra growled and was about to leap forward again, only to be stilled by Varuna's hand on his shoulder.

Her eyes never left Vinata for a single millisecond. "Keep your head cool. Our reinforcements will be here soon. She has no place to run."

Reinforcements? Of course. How could she forget the rest of the ugly bunch?

Unfortunately for Vinata, her vision blurred and hazed. She bit down on her lip hard, drawing blood to sharpening her senses once more. Her pride as a Nastika wouldn't let her surrender until the very bitter end. Even if they tore her apart piece by piece, even if they left her looking exactly like Cepphus's corpse, she refused to submit to the fiends who took the life of her most precious friend.

Dear lord, her head was throbbing like no tomorrow. Perhaps there would indeed be no tomorrow, not for her. Every iota of her body defied her command. Her legs gave out first, shaking and quivering uncontrollably. Was it her imagination or was the ground actually shaking from beneath her?

A blur of brown crashed into the nearby rocks with a deafening boom.

"Avi…fauna?" Even as she talked, she winced. Unable to see straight, Vinata tried taking a step forward, but collapsed on her knees instead.

"_No!_" a hideous voice screeched. It might have been Chandra, but she was too out of it to know for sure.

Then, all of a sudden, the planet was shaking, cracking, almost reforming. Waves crashed against the earth like tumultuous tides of the ocean during a full moon. Before Vinata knew it, she was barricaded by looming mountains on all sides. Now lying on her back, she was given a full view of the sky, of the hundreds of gods raining down on her.

"Vinata?"

What a soothing voice. From who? Something soft, bright and surprisingly pink..

"Myna?"

No, Myna didn't have ears, or glow.

"I don't have a healing attribute, so I can't do anything about your state," the soothing voice continued. "Hold on a little longer and Avifauna will bring you home."

Soon, she understood why the soft toned woman picked her off the ground. Rocks from all over the land shot up into the sky, crashing against the torrent of gods. With three Nastikas present, victory was completely out of the question. Varuna raised her hand to signal for retreat. What was left of her army followed her lead away from the planet. Gods that weren't as lucky were crushed by falling boulders.

Subsequently, Vinata found herself being transferred to another pair of arms, one that was quite reluctant to take her.

"Shuri, shouldn't you bring her back?" the voice of Avifauna was easily recognizable. "It'd be more convenient if you went to fetch Garuda while I take care of the rest of them."

Shuri brought a sleeve to her mouth and chuckled. "Oh Avifauna, if you're that afraid of Garuda's wrath, you should have just said so. Fine, then. Give Vinata to me."

The grip on Vinata's arm tightened. Alliance or not, having another clan's Nastika taunt him didn't fare well with the second of the Garuda Clan at all. "No, I'll do it."

Shuri raised an eyebrow as the brown bird flew away.

**S-C-N-D**

_N0 - approx. 37000 years_

**S-C-N-D**

"What is grandfather doing?" grumbled the pink-red Upani impatiently. "Garuda-nim is _furious_. I can feel it in my bones." She shuddered.

Vegavis could actually feel mild effects of emotional resonance as well. He didn't blame Garuda. If he suspected someone else getting close to his mate… well, the result wouldn't be pretty. Still, having his own _father_ be the culprit for adultery was a rather bone chilling thought.

"Ah!" screeched Myna, leaping to her feet. She pointedly jabbed her finger at the sky. "What is he doing? What is he doing?! We're all going to get killed!"

Vegavis's temple throbbed. "Quiet!" he ordered, but his own feathers jerked violently at the sight of Avifauna descending the skies with a bloody Vinata in his arms. "Where is Garuda?" he quickly demanded, whipping his head to his daughter, only to see a white haired man standing a hundred metres behind her.

"…Crap."

_Well, Myna and I had a nice life. Thank you for all you've done for us, Avifauna-nim._

As well prepared as Vegavis and Myna were, Garuda still stupefied them with the speed at which he knocked Avifauna out of the sky. The brown Nastika barely landed, only to have a silver sword thrown his way. In order to avoid it, Avifauna had to leap back into the air.

"_What were you doing with my wife?_" Never in the history of the universe had they seen Garuda this furious. Even Avifauna was quite shaken by the sheer power of his words.

_Which promise do I keep now? _He asked, scowling with his feathers all in disarray. There was no advantage in fighting Garuda over a simple misunderstanding. On top of that, his vigor was mostly depleted from the fight with gods. Why for the love of Visnu didn't he take on Shuri's offer?

Vinata looked too battered to speak. Garuda would never take his word in this situation. Avifauna's fate was certainly _not_ in good hands.

"Garuda-nim, wait!" To everyone's surprise, it was Vegavis who called out. Taking a tentative step forward, he mediated, "my father, Avifauna-nim, is not an unreasonable person. Please hear him out before making your judgement."

Vegavis's words served as a sharp reminder of Garuda's kingly duty. Though his heart continued to pound with fury, he forcibly suppressed those irrational emotions to revert to his calm and normal self. Tightly clutching Vinata with one arm, the king swooped down to retreat his sword from the pond sized crater. Avifauna, too, landed beside his descendents.

"Talk," Garuda demanded. "You have ten minutes."

Avifauna sent Vinata a regretful look, which was not missed by the three other Suras. Vegavis and Myna stiffened. Garuda clutched his wife tighter. The brown Nastika closed his eyes and sighed. _It _s_eems like I will have to break our promise this time._

"Vinata," he finally divulged, "left to the Sura Realm to squelch the remnants of the Seven Thousand Year War rebellion. I do not know what happened in the time that she was gone, nor do I know if she was successful. The only thing I understand is that Shuri of the Yaksha Clan approached me an hour ago to inform that she'd been ambushed by a party of gods led by Chandra and Varuna. She was in that state when we found her."

Garuda stood alarmingly still. There was no questioning whether he believed Avifauna's explanation or not. In nearly three billion years of his lifetime, Avifauna never lied to his king once. Finally, with great deliberation, he turned to the three of the three Suras and motioned the Upani over.

Myna's eyes almost popped out of her head. She pointed a finger at herself. _Me?_

Garuda nodded impatiently. He looked very much on edge. Myna gulped before swooping down nervously.

"Take her back to her nest," he ordered, placing Vinata into her arms.

She could only nod stiffly.

The king took a deep breath and glared defiantly at the sky. Simply to exert his anger, storm clouds rolled in and showered a thousand blades of lightning on the land. Garuda Suras from all over the land grounded and ran for cover. Even Nastikas were quite shaken by the display. Avifauna and Vegavis were no exceptions.

Myna, especially, was terrified.

"Myna."

"Y-yes?"

Lightning flashed as the king tipped his head to reveal a face dark with fury. Save for two glowing grey eyes, Garuda's entire body was swathed in shadow. "_No one_ touches my wife."

She nodded frantically.

Like a summer thunderstorm, the clouds cleared as quickly as they appeared. In the absence of the livid king, the Suras began poking their heads out from their hiding spots. Each was reluctant to be the first to step out in fear that they would be struck once they did. Myna was the one glaring exception. With the queen cradled in her arms, she sprinted through the empty paths as if they were littered with red hot coals.

**S-C-N-D**

_N0 - approx. 37000 years_

**S-C-N-D**

When Vinata awoke, she awoke in the familiar embrace of her paramour. Even before her eyes fluttered open, she felt him endear her with kisses, salty kisses all over her body. But there was no blood on her face, and Garuda never cried.

For that reason, she fully opened her eyes.

Her husband, with two arms tightly cradling her body, was glistening red all over. She panicked for a split second at the notion of Garuda being hurt. Then she remembered that Suras didn't have red blood. Humans did, but Garuda promised Visnu to never kill a human. And the only other option was…

"You're good," she whispered tenderly, pressing her battered cheek to his bloody one. On the verge of crying, she clutched his warm body with all her might. "You're just too good."

"I love you," he said, pressing her body closer to his. His cheek brushed against her hair as he fitted her small head into the space between his neck and shoulder. "Never doubt that I love you more than anyone in the universe."

No word, no combination of words could express her tenacious passion for this man.

Vinata nodded into his shoulder.

**S-C-N-D**

I feel like an explanation is in order here, since I tend to be quite ambiguous with my writing. I am completely open to the idea of readers having their own interpretation of a story, but at the same time I don't want anyone to go like _what? But how did she get from there to here? _and _I thought this/that was happening, then suddenly it wasn't! It doesn't make any sense!_

So the gist of this is that Vinata felt detached from Garuda because he has to suppress his emotions as a king. In order to get his attention, she puts on a weak act. But because Garuda knows about her façade, he refuses to cater to her haughty needs. However, when worst comes to worst, and when she actually gives her all, he'd go to the end of the universe for her. (Just in case you guys didn't catch on, the blood was from his massacre of gods.)

That's why she tells him that he's good, because he knows exactly when she actually needs him and when she's just being bratty.

By the way, that planet was based on Venus. :P

Thank your for reading! Please leave a review!

-SCND


	20. Threads of Blood

A little bit of Shuri/Visnu, a lot of ANGSTANGSTANGST (and some answers). Currygom wrote in her trailer that Kubera is "a story where someone has to cry." That's probably why it appeals so much to me.

Quick updates will be quick. I want to finish this before going back to school. (Ending is currently set at 30 Chapters.)

Disclaimer: There are many things in this world that do not belong to me. Kubera is one of them.

**S-C-N-D**

Courtship of a Phoenix

…

Her nails, her claws, her feathers were black.

Black with the sins she'd committed.

Black with the sins she was committing in order to hide the sins she'd committed.

"Avifauna," she panted, dripping blood. "I hope you're happy now."

…

**Chapter Twenty: Threads of Blood**  
_N0 - approx. 5000 years_

…

In a field of reeds and wildflowers, Shuri enjoyed the gentle breeze as she hugged her hips tightly. Billions of years ago, Isholy had been as uninhabitable as the Sura Realm. Just as Visnu promised, it became a present sanctuary for the Yaksha Clan. Unfortunately, humans also took notice and started inhabiting this beautiful planet. More than a few conflicts arose between Visnu's race and her own.

Perhaps she had been too full of herself to assume that his offer was exclusive to the Yaksha Clan. She came here to mediate, but the presence of a Nastika only resulted in high tensions. Now Shuri was deliberating whether she should stay or leave and wait for the problem to sort out on its own.

Before she reached a conclusion, her ears twitched at the sound of bare feet crunching down on small, dry weeds.

"The only Primeval God to ever be confused for a Hobo," she teased, dusting off the dirt caked figure with her tail. "Visnu, what am I ever to do with you? Why don't you get some shoes?"

Visnu himself wiped away a trail of crusty blood from a scratch on his face. "Force of habit, I suppose." He shrugged. A new droplet of red blood trailed from the reopened wound.

Sighing, she leaned down to clean his face with her sleeve. Visnu tidying his appearance was as easy as Kubera summoning a curry mushroom. He just never bothered to. For reasons beyond her, he liked to call himself a rugged man of the wild. Shuri cuffed him for his stupidity every time. As much as she loved him, something was seriously off with this man.

"Wish I had a mirror so you can take a good look at yourself," she grumbled.

Indeed, Visnu approached her almost as wild as the land itself, his clothes torn and hair flying off in every direction. Not only did Shuri dust him off, she also had to pick sticker grass off his entire body. All the while, Visnu stood dazedly.

"Shuri?"

"Yes?"

"You really were created with a motherly instinct, weren't you?" He grinned.

"…" She clutched his head in her sleeved hands. "Visnu?"

"Yes?"

"Shut up."

"Okay."

_Why do I even bother?_ Shuri sighed, dusting down stands of flying hair. "There, now you finally look less like a ditsy hobo and more like an occasionally homeless panhandler."

Visnu pressed his lips together.

"What brings you to Isholy?"

His smile faded into a line and he scratched at a flying cowlick as if he'd already forgotten. Knowing they'd be here forever if this persisted, Shuri picked him up and carried him to a more convenient location. A tree would do. That way, if he accidentally fell, he might hit his head and finally come to his senses. After dropping him on a branch, she sat leaning against the trunk.

After staring at his dangling legs for ten minutes, Visnu suddenly exclaimed, "that's right!" He tap a fist down on his palm for extra emphasis on his temporary stupidity. "I'm on Isholy! I was wondering where I traveled to after all this time."

"…" She shook her head as he surveyed his surroundings with wonderment. "Sometimes I really do wonder how you don't accidentally end up on the inside of a whale or something. Where were you intending to go in the first place?"

He spaced out for another minute before answering, "I was going to find Garuda. I think."

"You think?"

"Mmm." He cocked his head. "Yeah. I probably was going to find Garuda."

"Why?" she asked, furrowing her eyebrows at his semi troubled expression. "Is something wrong with his clan? I thought we sorted that drama out thirty one thousand years ago." Visnu might be an oddball, but for him to interfere in anything personally was rather rare. If it was something banal, he would have asked her or Gandharva to help in his stead.

The frown on his face became much more eminent. Visnu straightened his back and rubbed circles against his temple. "Ah, I remember now. Long ago, I saw an Insight of the Garuda Clan falling apart. I wanted to prevent that, but I think it's already been averted."

"What do you mean?" Shuri got the feeling that he was talking about the Garuda-Vinata warring days, but those were long past, weren't they? She was his wife now, so shouldn't all be peaceful?

Visnu, however, was in no hurry to reveal his troubles. Tilting his head back, he mused, "when I first met Garuda, I was surprised by how many trials his name was burdened with. He was a lonely king, so I offered to give him a companion to help him out. But he looked me straight in the eye and refused my help. I saw his entire future the moment our eyes met."

Shuri wasn't sure where he was going with this. "So Garuda is a special Nastika?"

"Not special, per se. I doubt anyone would envy him, except for his wife, strangely, but that's all in the past. How should I put this?" He tapped a finger against his lower lip. "The name Garuda is a necessity in the recipe for disaster—an unstable chemical, shall we put it? I couldn't leave him alone, but I had to choose his allies very carefully."

"So you manipulated all of us," Shuri sighed. She'd long accepted the fact that Visnu was an entity above them all. A close friend he might be, but a friend that existed on a completely different plane. To coexist with the creator of all beings, She, Garuda and Gandharva were forced to recognize that he had his duties to carry out just as they had their own—even if his methods were soiled.

"Not really. I just wanted a few friends to have a drink with."

It was moments like these that completely confounded her. Visnu could be totally shady sometimes and then completely ditsy and honest at others. "So? You just made friends with three kings for the heck of it?"

"No, no, no! It wasn't _you guys _I gave to Garuda. How could you ever accuse me of such a thing! I really did gather you three for my own entertainment, I promise on my physical body!" he exclaimed, patting his chest. "The one I gave him is Vinata."

Shuri scratched her furry ear. "So you thought it was wise," she concluded, even more puzzled, "to just pair him together with the Nastika who had been destroying his clan?" Now she was a little ticked off. "Instead of doing that, why didn't you find _me_ a husband instead?"

"That was then!" he dismissed her accusation with a flip of his hand. "But really, I'm surprised at how well it all turned out! Don't they look cute together?"

She smote him.

"…" Clutching his head, Visnu placed his chin in between his knees. It was quiet, but Shuri swore she heard him sigh heavily. "I didn't want you to suffer, Shuri. The only way you would have gotten a husband is if I planned out every meticulous detail of your future. Everyone whose fate I tamper with suffers in the end… Garuda, Gandharva, Taksaka… Even when I try to fix my own mistakes, I just end up projecting their suffering onto someone else. _That's_ the real reason I married off my friends: to make them happy by letting someone else bear their pain."

Though he was right next to her, Visnu had never seemed more aloof.

"I had a hunch early on in the universe. In fact, I knew from first glance that only Vinata can put a stop to this political instability. Because it's impossible for a riot this big to cease peacefully, I made her mend Garuda's clan with threads of blood. So I gave him a wife, since I was in need of a plan and that was the most befitting one. That's their marriage in a nutshell. There's no one else crazy enough to beat fourteen Nastikas of their own clan into submission, just her."

"And that's why you asked me to save her?"

"Yep." His voice regained its usual cheeriness.

Despite the rather cruel and candid explanation given, it made a lot of sense: why Garuda got his wife first, why Shuri never had a lover, why Gandharva was so utterly obliviously happy. Ananta may be the strongest entity in this universe, but in the long run, he had _nothing_ on Visnu.

Shuri turned away. "Why?" she asked quietly. "Why go to such lengths to keep her alive? Aren't you basically saying that Menaka and Vinata were doomed from the beginning?"

"It's like this in every universe, isn't it?" he deadpanned. "The queen dies so that the king doesn't have to."

**S-C-N-D**

_N0 - approx. 2000 years_

**S-C-N-D**

Myna shrieked at the Chaos Sura that suddenly appeared before her. Why was there such a creature in the Garuda Mountains? And for goodness sake, weren't Chaos Suras supposed to target strong prey? She was only an Upani, one that couldn't even develop any further! If these unlawful creatures could kill a Nastika like Cepphus, what chance did she have?

Its claws clamped over her mouth. Brilliant. Just brilliant.

"Don't speak." Her heart pounded. Wait, those things could talk? "It's just me."

She nearly shrieked again, this time for a completely different reason. "Oh my god, Vinata-nim. What happened? Why are you…" Unable to find the right words, Myna crazily gestured up and down the queen's body.

Vinata wiped the left half of her face clear and whipped a handful of black Sura blood aside. Even as she stood, blood pooled in a small puddle at her feet. It was making Myna exceptionally nervous.

_Even one of Avifauna's looks at me like I'm a monster_. Defeated, the queen plopped on the floor. "I'm horrible, aren't I? Whether to get my husband off the throne or keep him on it, I still bathe myself in the blood of my own kin. What do you think he'd say if he saw me like this?"

"I—uh—tension's been running high within the clan?" she asked meekly.

Vinata laughed once. "You have no idea."

Myna fidgeted. Despite her loquaciousness, she had no idea what to say in times like these. Why was this feeling so familiar? Oh yes, it was similar to those anxiety attacks she got when talking to her grandfather. "Well, um, I think you're a good queen regardless. You love Garuda-nim enough to shed blood for him and, um… we're all Suras so it's natural to have a little bloodshed at times." She scratched her red horn stiffly. "At least you didn't kill anyone?"

Oh how wrong the flustered Upani was. But Vinata didn't tell her. The number of lives lost by her hands was for her and her alone to know.

"But, um, maybe we should get you cleaned up before Garuda-nim or grandfather sees?"

To that, Vinata had no answer. She wasn't foolish enough to hope for the impossible. Both Avifauna and Garuda knew that rebels dedicated to a billion year old cause didn't just back off without a reason. Incidentally, both of them were also smart enough to turn a blind eye to their movements. These days, it was far from unusual for her to lie beside her husband merely hours before engaging in a violent brawl with another Nastika.

"Vinata? Are you in there?"

Myna jumped at the voice of her king. In panic, she scurried around the cave, trying to somehow cover up the sight of the bloody Nastika. Curse her earth-fire-sky combination! Why hadn't she been born with a Darkness attribute?

Vinata gently placed a hand on her shoulder. "It's okay," she assured before hollering, "I'm not decent!"

Myna scrambled into a corner at the first flash of white.

"You don't have to yell. I'm right her—" Garuda cut himself short as his eyes fell on her figure. Briefly, they flickered from her head to her toes back to her head. Seconds ticked by as his expression remained unchanged.

"I told you I'm not decent," sighed Vinata.

"Well, make yourself decent."

"No," she huffed stubbornly. "I want a kid."

From behind tall stalactites, the red-pink Upani blushed and covered her ears. This _really_ wasn't a conversation she should be listening to, and it certainly didn't bring any comfort to know that her queen was aware of her eavesdropping.

Garuda shot Vinata a dirty look. Harrumphing, he stated a little too loudly, "I don't understand how you arrived at that conclusion. Please explain your train of thought."

"I don't have any." She opened her arms wide, exhibiting her entire body. "My train has been derailed. Can you not see my current state? I think I may be a lunatic."

Scoffing at her childishness, Garuda lifted his bloody wife to carry her out of the cave. Oddly enough, as soon as he touched her, all the blood crusted and flaked away. She clasped her hands together and smiled like it was any normal day.

"Don't be silly," he told her, tapping their foreheads. "There's only one Visnu."

**S-C-N-D**

Random proposals of children seem to be quite common within my romance stories. (Cue fifteen facepalms.) I was trying to set the mood for the next chapter and then I gave up.

Well, there you go: manipulative!Visnu, violent!Vinata and stoicslashuncaring!Garuda

Thank your for reading! Please leave a review!

-SCND


	21. At Stake

Oh man, this chapter feels more like a bunch of scenes lumped together than a legit chapter. There's sadness and sweetness and anger and hope everywhere I just want to vomit rainbows after writing it all.

As promised, Maruna makes his debut.

Countdown: nine!

Disclaimer: There are many things in this world that do not belong to me. Kubera is one of them.

**S-C-N-D**

Courtship of a Phoenix

…

She hummed to the sweet smelling summer air. The winds spiraled up from the hills, bringing the scent of Garuda's flowerbeds with them.

She pressed her lips to his temple and whispered in his ear, "if it's a girl, I hope she likes your flowers."

"But you're not going to have a girl," he protested and she knew the tightening of his arm around her waist wasn't just her imagination.

She glanced fondly at her growing belly. On any other day, Vinata would have chided her husband for his pessimism, but today she was feeling exceptional. "Oh, I don't know. I'm sure I can manage a miracle somehow."

…

**Chapter Twenty-One: At Stake**  
_N0 - approx. 1100 years_

…

"Are you having frost on your feathers, Garuda? You don't seem to be doing so well," one Yaksha Sura said.

"Oh, don't bother him. Soon he'll have to share his wife with another," her friend replied.

Garuda was _thrilled_ to have Shuri's clan welcome him as they usually do, a white haired, blue skinned woman among them. Come to think of it, he hadn't seen her in many centuries. But then he'd never before seen this many Yaksha Nastikas gathered in one place.

"I don't understand." He spun his head, taking in the scene for the umpteenth time. "Why do you pick war, you who are so intimate with Visnu?"

The light faded from Shuri's eyes and her lips lost their arch. "There's more at stake than Visnu…" She looked like she was going to say something more, but the moment quickly passed and she retained her humor. "No need to look too much into it, Garuda. I just thought I'd finally leave the sidelines to get a taste of this war and glory you and Gandharva are so hell bent on."

The white haired woman laughed boisterously. "Oh!" she exclaimed, clapping a hand on Garuda's back, "but secretly, this one's a softie. The way he dotes on his wife almost makes Gandharva seem normal."

Garuda had to fight back a sputter of protest.

"It's okay." Ha—what was her name again? looked fondly at him before patting his cheek twice. "We all do it. It's a Nastika's guilty pleasure."

With a wink, the woman was off, leaving him to sigh and scratch his head, wondering where he'd gone wrong.

"Your clan, Shuri," Garuda settled for a fond sigh, "is still as annoying as ever."

"Birds will be birds and foxes foxes," Shuri chippered happily. "Little you can do, Garuda."

He shot her a glare. "I still can't believe Vinata once said she'd pick me over you. It's insulting to even compare the two of us."

"Yes, I agree." Shuri smiled complacently. "But you mustn't let your self-esteem issues get in the way just because I am a wonderful enough rival for your wife to make eyes at me."

"Don't flatter yourself. She also once contemplated dating Ananta."

Shuri made a horrified face.

The edges of Garuda's lips tugged up. "Oh yes, Shuri. I went there."

**S-C-N-D**

_N0 – approx. 1100 years_

**S-C-N-D**

"You deliberately waited until Garuda was on an errand so you could come to me."

The accusation pieced the air and brought several truckloads of tension down on both Nastika's shoulders. Vinata, already in her later stages of pregnancy, could not take any more weight. Avifauna, already entangled much too deep, could no longer afford to be careless if he wanted a head to stay on his neck.

She put a protective hand under her belly and his eyes drifted to it. This was no longer just for his sake, or hers, or even Garuda's.

"You might have even sent him away on purpose."

"…"

"You know I risk my blood and flesh each time you seek me out. The child you're now carrying doesn't exactly make Garuda less likely to cleave me with his sword. I ask myself again and again why I ally with you. As if I haven't already been accused of adultery once…"

Her eyes flicked down guiltily. The ground was blocked by the bulge of her stomach. Vinata swallowed a lump and stated gently, "there's more at stake than just the two of us. I want to be selfless for the sake of my child."

When Vinata smiled, she nearly glowed, despite what little light there was in the cave. Avifauna's eyebrows knitted together as he remembered that once, long ago, his wife had gazed at him with the same expression. As time passed, she stopped sending him such loving looks and he never gave it much thought.

…Until he saw her tender expression for one last time—not directed at him, but the small bundle of brown feathers cradled in her lap.

This was the point of reminiscence where he found himself snapping uncharacteristically at Vinata, "but you are _not_ selfless! Everything you do is and has always been in vain. What good is it if you're willing to shed every feather for a son your beloved husband will hate with every fiber of his being? If you're really selfless, take him out of the world now, before he can feel, so it'll hurt that much less when Garuda does."

Vinata flicked her hand angrily. A torrent of fire spiraled forth from her fingers, charring Avifauna's face. Far from stopping there, her flames took on a life of their own. Powered through anger, they ran down his shoulders in scalding trails until Avifauna's entire figure drowned in her fury.

And in that fiery hell, the devil herself hissed with hostility, "how dare you insult me _and_ my family in one sentence? The one who needs to be selfless is not me."

He didn't respond, prompting Vinata to heave a heavy sigh.

"But since you insist, which you so rarely do, I won't involve you any longer. Consider our alliance broken."

No longer wishing to see his face, Vinata smothered her flames and left the cave without sparing Avifauna another look. Even if he had second thoughts, he wouldn't act on them. He was strong, diplomatic, fair, but not tenacious. For one to be tenacious, one would have to believe; he never believed enough. She couldn't afford such a liability on her side.

"I'm out of luck," Vinata whispered. "Little one, can you hear me?"

The wind whistled.

"I don't care if you're a girl or a boy," she told her child, "but you're damn well going to be the happiest Rakshasa in the universe."

Then she had to sit because her back began to strain her.

"Goddammit," Vinata cursed, punching the ground and accidentally destroying the mountain path. She leaned her head back exasperatingly. "It's been a while since I was pregnant."

The clouds didn't have any response in particular either.

**S-C-N-D**

_N0 – approx. 1100 years_

**S-C-N-D**

"The end of the world will come soon, Kali predicted."

"To you?" Visnu quirked an eyebrow. "You certainly have a rare gift! Only Shiva has ever been able to anger lovely Kali to that level. It's almost more intriguing than the time I got summoned by a human. Did you ask for another Nastika name?"

"No."

"Insult the Chaos Clan?"

"To her face? Tempting, but no. I am not quite _that_ foolish."

"Then what's the secret?"

Gandharva thought long and hard. "Well," he finally admitted, "I think it's because I asked her for the gender of my firstborn."

"Oh." Visnu waved off the trivial matter. "It's a girl."

"What?! Really?" His eyes shone as he clung onto the primeval god like a leech. "When is she due? Does she look like Menaka?"

But Visnu was no longer interested in his spirited friend, not when Shuri had gathered the largest group of Nastikas in nearly two hundred thousand years. Her ideals and beliefs had been shaped by his. She strove for peace. She never lead a god hunt in her life and Visnu had a pretty good idea why his beloved fox friend chose to take a stand _now_.

Shuri sent him a somewhat smug smile, confirming his suspicions. Visnu waved at her, fondness in his heart but sadness in his eyes. He tried to smile but didn't make it all the way.

"What is Shuri doing?" Gandharva paused and asked pensively. "Is there something going on that I don't know about?" His one eye dimmed with worry and skepticism.

Visnu wondered himself. "Battle of the sexes, perhaps? Shuri wants to defy me."

"_What?_"

"Not to the extent that you're thinking," Visnu stated, prying Gandharva's fingers from his bare shoulder. "Maybe you could say that we don't exactly believe in the same things anymore." His figure drooped sadly. "She no longer finds it enough to wait and observe how the universe changes throughout the years. She wants to fight for a certain result."

Gandharva, thank heavens for his very special interpretations, took that to mean less than it did. "So Shuri's finally launching a campaign. That's a relief." He put a hand to his racing heart. "I thought you two were going head to head. You scared me."

"Oh no!" Visnu inflated with fake cheer. "If Shuri were to actually fight me, I'd despair. She can't defeat me. She'd only be working to my advantage with every move she makes. She already is…"

Gandharva furrowed his eyebrows, but prudently refrained from speaking any more.

Visnu's fists clenched slightly. _Well_, he told himself, _this is to be expected after all. If one chess piece is taken out, another has to be brought in to offset the imbalance._

**S-C-N-D**

_N0 – approx. 1100 years_

**S-C-N-D**

"For you, dear."

Vinata smiled shyly and extended her hand to take the branch of cherry blossoms by its stem. Her fingers brushed her unexpected visitor's sleeve.

"Thank you Shuri." She patted the spot beside her invitingly.

Shuri lowered herself with grace befitting of one of the most beautiful entities in the universe. "How is the little one coming along?" she asked, inclining her head forward.

"All but dying to come out," Vinata laughed. "My chick has been kicking me nonstop. I really don't remember my last pregnancy to be this long."

"That's different. This child is a Rakshasa, not a Half, although your pregnancy is longer than most. Maybe he's just a slow developer."

Vinata groaned.

"What's the matter?"

"Am I the only one who thinks my chick is a girl?"

Shuri blinked. "Darling…" She placed a consoling hand on Vinata's shoulder. "Garuda has been male for his whole life, save for maybe a few seconds. And you've yet to be female for a hundred thousand years. Are you really hoping it to be a girl?"

"I—" She never really told anyone about her insecurities, especially after that unpleasant encounter with Avifauna. "I want him to like her," she squeaked before flushing a bright shade of red.

"What makes you think Garuda won't like _him_ just as equally?"

"I just have a feeling it's a girl," Vinata mumbled, lowering her head in embarrassment.

"Well then I hope for your sake that you're not the kind to be disappointed easily, or maybe the kind to at least think of a few gender neutral names," she sighed, thinking of Yaksha's disastrous naming abilities.

Vinata brightened visibly. "Oh yes! Garuda's been trying not to think too much about our chick so I came up with a whole list of names. I think I'm going to call her Maruna!"

"… I don't think that's a gender neutral name." Shuri paused for good measure. "And are you sure about that? It sounds awfully similar to Varuna."

"I think it's a name that has strength," Vinata stated confidently. She frowned. "He's going to need a lot of strength to grow up."

Shuri could sense their conversation taking a turn for the unpleasant, which meant that now would be as good a time as any to state the real reason she came. "Vinata, I'm organizing a god hunt."

She was puzzled by Shuri's expectant gaze. "And you want me to come along?" Vinata looked down at her belly and back at Shuri. "_Pregnant?_"

"No!" exclaimed Shuri. "Heavens, Garuda would declare war on my clan for doing that to him. No, of course not. I've come here to ask if you want to volunteer any Nastikas. My clan needs all the help we can get and it's been high time for us to bring your clan down a notch."

Vinata struggled to understand Shuri's message and whether she was joking or actually serious about lending a hand to the pregnant woman in need. Garuda's friends, were, after all, known for their eccentricity.

"I can think of a handful of Nastikas I'd like to keep out of these mountains." _And away from my family._

Shuri's eyes twinkled. "Yes, indeed. It gets quite noisy up here and sometimes my children like to play detective. Really, we should give the busybodies something else to talk about."

**S-C-N-D**

_N0 – approx. 1100 years_

**S-C-N-D**

If Garuda knew the reason a flock of birds left the nest right when his new chick was due, he didn't show it. He was, however, much more affectionate with his touches in the new-brought privacy. When he enveloped Vinata in his arms, it was easy for her to forget the child altogether.

"Tell me one thing that you want the most in this world," whispered Garuda in between kisses, "and I'll get it for you."

She stilled for a moment while his lips trailed her jawline to her ear and back. "Does it have to be a thing?" she asked as he nibbled her earlobe, bringing her lips into a broad grin. "What if I just want this? For us to stay the same."

He drew back and cupped her head. "Is that all?" In the dim light, his grey eyes shone with overflowing emotion. It wasn't fair that Vinata asked for something so simple when he could give so much more. "Are you sure you don't me to retrieve the most beautiful stone from the farthest corner of the universe?"

"Yes," she spoke the words she'd been meaning to since the first time he kissed her. "I've been happier the last fifty thousand years with you than I have been my entire life before that."

He opened his mouth to respond but she silenced him with a finger to his lips.

"All I want," continued Vinata, "is for things to stay the same, a pleasant, stable happiness where nothing is at stake and no one has to hurt. That is the most I can ask for from you, because you and I as Nastikas know better than anyone that there is no bliss without tragedy."

"I—"

Vinata stopped him again right before his lips crashed into hers.

"It would also be helpful if you gave the little one a fraction of the love you give me every day."

He drew back in time to see a visible, nervous lump move down her throat. Garuda never knew it meant so much to his wife. Nodding, he announced, "you have my word as king."

Those were the last words spoken between them that night.

**S-C-N-D**

_N0 – approx. 1000 years_

**S-C-N-D**

"It's a boy."

"WHAT?" Vinata yelled and then cringed when pain spiked through her entire body.

"I told you," said Shuri, who was shaking her head. She'd returned from the god hunt for a single night once Vegavis and Myna brought her the news of labor at breakneck speed.

"Vinata," Garuda sighed exasperatingly in between the baby's cries. "I told you not to move until Gandharva fully heals your wound."

Gandharva still looked mentally scarred at having to put his hand anywhere near _there_.

"Never mind that. Let me hold him."

Visnu passed the screaming baby onto Vinata's lap. Myna and her Upani friends immediately clamored around to take a good look at the small infant. Garuda, however, was more concerned about his wife's well-being and stuck to Gandharva's side.

"Dad, it's so, _so_ adorable!" Myna squealed. "I want one too!"

"I forbid it," Vegavis stated with finality.

"He's perfect," Vinata muttered, oblivious to all that was passing around her.

Unable to do anything else, the small bundle of red and white feathers bawled his eyes out through tiny little chirps, but he was so warm and _cute_. She parted his wet hair and kissed the markings on his face. When she lifted her head, she saw him staring at her with a eminent curiosity, eyes as red and sharp as her own.

"He's got that expression you always used to have," Garuda muttered.

"Really?"

"Hm." But he was smiling, which was good.

"He looks like you," Vinata commented absentmindedly as the kid clasped her fingers in a tight grip. "He looks a lot like you."

"Hm."

"That's not a good thing, Vinata-nim," one of the Upanis whispered in her ear and Vinata feigned deafness.

"Ma-ru-na," she declared, tapping his nose fondly with every syllable.

The baby chirped happily.

"What did you say?" Garuda looked horrified.

Visnu whistled innocently.

"That's his name," Vinata informed him with a bright smile. "Maruna! I thought of it myself. It's a really nice sounding name."

"Yes!" added Visnu with a kick to Garuda's shin. "It's a very _strong_ name for a very _strong_ Rakshasa."

Garuda looked from his blissful wife to his chirping son to the squealing Myna to the stern Vegavis to the smiling Shuri to the spazzing Gandharva to the smug Visnu. He decided there was at least one thing that would never change no matter now many centuries passed.

Folding his arms, he elegantly quipped, "I hate you all."

**S-C-N-D**

My headcanon tells me that Rakshasas go through a Stage Zero—that is, they technically start "developing" as a fetus in their mother's stomach. Soooo... unfortunately for Rakshasas that take longer to develop, like Maruna, their mother has to suffer a longer pregnancy. Oh poor Vinata. In CoaP, he developed for roughly a hundred fifty years before popping out.

I hope you didn't die from the overload of sweetness. I've honestly been trying to balance romance with life... issues... that these Suras are going through.

Thanks for reading! Please leave a review!

-SCND


	22. When You're Older

Chapter Twenty-Two, brought to you in the early hours of the morning by a sleep deprived author.

Now that Vinata is finally beginning to make further appearances in Canon (epilogue of the Finite, to be exact!), my "theory," if you can call Courtship of a Phoenix one, has officially been debunked. So Vinata is actually serious and most likely stronger in her female form. It's also unknown whether or not she stays with Garuda after the Kali incident. CoaP will try to adhere to Canon but the ending will most likely be the one I intended for from the beginning.

Countdown: eight!

Disclaimer: There are many things in this world that do not belong to me. Kubera is one of them.

**S-C-N-D**

Courtship of a Phoenix

…

"I-I'm not quite sure this is a good idea," stammered Myna.

"This is a great idea," proclaimed Vinata, a little too cheerily, as she dangled a squirming baby just off the precipice.

"But—"

"Too late." Vinata let go.

Twenty metres below, Garuda barely started walking before a whir of white and red shot past him. It looked suspiciously like his son. He didn't give it a second thought.

…

**Chapter Twenty-Two: When You're Older  
**_N0 - approx. 1000 years_

…

"Hey Garuda, who's the cutest baby in the world?"

"Hn."

Sulking at her husband's refusal to play along with her game, Vinata cuddled Maruna closer to her chest and told him, "you are! Oh, yes you are! Daddy's just über jealous of your cuteness." She stuck her tongue out.

"Hn."

Garuda only continued to scan over recent paperwork while pretending to the best of his abilities that that _thing_ inside Vinata's arms wasn't there. Had he looked, he would have seen Maruna's eyes gaze curiously drift from his mother to his father, expression solemn.

"Well," she huffed. "You're no fun."

Vinata rose with her baby and took flight, presumably to find a cave so she could breastfeed him out of sight. At least she was being more considerate than doing it blatantly in broad daylight.

Gone were the days where Garuda only had to vie for Vinata's attention. Now he had to share it. And he would feel better if it was another Nastika he was competing with, because then Garuda could just kill him. But it wasn't. Maruna was a child—his child, and however it displeased him to look at that innocent face, he couldn't resent him enough to physically hurt him.

_So it doesn't matter in the big picture,_ Garuda reasoned with himself. As long as Maruna was alive, Vinata was happy. And when Maruna grew up, Vinata would come back to his arms, where she truly belonged.

That brought a small smirk to his lips.

"Garuda! _Garuda!_"

See? There she was, already running back to him.

"This is all _your_ fault!" Vinata stomped to him, finger flitting accusingly between him and the little devil. On her tiptoes, she hissed in his face, "why does my baby only have _one_expression?"

Affronted, Garuda said, "I have more than one expression."

She glared. "Right. I forgot. You have one and a half. I can't believe he inherited your disturbingly frigid face!"

Garuda raised an eyebrow.

"Because of you, my baby probably only has five facial muscles!"

"I have more than five facial muscles…" Garuda murmured, but it was lost to Vinata's heated rant.

Usually he'd let her complain as she liked. Sometimes Vinata liked to ramble just to get his attention, and he secretly liked listening to the hum of her voice while he worked. But on that particular day, Maruna just happened to grip his mother's shirt a little tighter. Vinata, lost in the fervor of her cause, didn't notice. Garuda did and suddenly his mood soured tenfold.

"Don't make this about him," he cut her tangent short. "You know better than that."

Vinata's fight disappeared instantly. She retracted her hand from him just as his grip slackened. "You do too," she reminded him.

"…"

He didn't have to wear a disdained face for her to read his thoughts. Vinata smiled sadly and asked, "does he look a little bit like me at all?"

"No," admitted Garuda. "Not really."

"Okay. Then I'll try not to ask any more of you."

Already, Maruna started tugging his mother's hair and demanding her attention, even though it hadn't been five minutes since she started talking to Garuda. He kicked and flailed like a chick with wet feathers.

"What do you know," the king remarked rather bitterly. "He does take after you in some ways after all."

**S-C-N-D**

_N0 – approx. 1000 years_

**S-C-N-D**

"The Asura Clan does _not _accept Rakshasas," sniffed Ravana.

For all the billions of years that luck had been his ally, it certainly wasn't this time. Vegavis ventured into the Asura stronghold expecting an audience with the king of insects. Instead, what he got was his infinitely harder to deal with second in command. As if it wasn't hard enough for a _Nastika_ to get Ravana's cooperation. Worse yet, that idiot just happened to be selectively oblivious to every word that didn't boost his already too large ego.

"I'm not here for a membership to your secret tea party. I'm here to look for my father."

That got his attention. A smirk overcoming his face, Ravana finally set down his goblet. "Oh? Are all Garuda Rakshasas so _fond_ of their fathers, I wonder? If only my children were quite as… obedient as you are."

"The queen wants to see him."

The smirk widened. "Vinata? But isn't she already _married_?" He quickly glanced around him, making sure that his audience was eating up every word. "What business would she have with a male that's not her own husband? Unless you're suggesting your father can provide something Garuda can't?"

The Asura Nastikas whispered loudly amongst themselves and Vegavis shut his eyes painfully, wondering where he had gone wrong—probably engaging in a conversation with Ravana to begin with.

"Very well," Ravana spared Vegavis the ordeal of uttering another word. "Since you're so curious, I'll tell you what happened to your father."

He paused for dramatic effect. Vegavis gestured for him to continue.

"He's dead, because of me." He closed his eyes and thanked his posse of Nastikas even before they began showering him with praises.

"I see. That is fine then. That is all I wanted to know," said Vegavis languidly.

Ravana blinked open one eye to see the Rakshasa already in flight. "That's it?" he complained childishly. "You think so little of my deeds? You won't even praise the great Ravana for his strength and handsomeness? You're not even going to entertain my friends?"

_Why would I ever seek the company of pathetic vermin like you? _Vegavis wanted to snap, but they are Nastikas while he is a Rakshasa and hopelessly outnumbered to boot. "If there is nothing else to do here," he stated instead, "my king and queen require my services back home."

Ravana followed his retreating figure with a frown, but gave no command to hunt this strange Garuda Rakshasa. After Vegavis left, he banged his goblet and huffed to his posse, "he thinks he can threaten me with_ Garuda_? The Garuda Clan is waning as we speak!"

**S-C-N-D**

_N0 – approx. 900 years_

**S-C-N-D**

"He has not developed," Garuda observed.

"Obviously." Vinata glared at him. It seemed that all she'd been doing was glaring when both he and Maruna were present. Almost always, he was on the receiving end of that glare. "You're rushing him."

"No. Most Rakshasas take less time to develop."

Maruna was large now, not quite first stage but not quite second. Although it had been a long time since he spoke in stutters and wails, he remained silent under his father's scrutiny. He had only ever seen his mother and father argue over him and he didn't want to say a word lest Garuda would use it against Vinata.

Or worse, what if his mother got mad at him?

"He should develop soon."

Maruna unintentionally met Garuda's icy grey eyes. He tried to swallow the nervous lump in his throat inconspicuously, but didn't really succeed. Not that it ever mattered. Garuda only stared at him like he was a passing nuisance anyway.

_Please_, he prayed, _let him go away so I can talk with mom again._

He breathed a sigh of relief when his father began walking away.

But then, not five steps had Garuda taken and his mother went stomping after him, gesticulating wildly. "Why must you make this so much harder for all of us? Have you already forgotten the promise you made or did those words mean nothing at all?"

Garuda shut his eyes and tried to inhale with poise. "I did mean what I said, Vinata. Nothing has changed between us."

"Nothing has changed except you constantly look at Maruna like you hope that he's going to spontaneously combust!"

"Isn't he?" he almost sneered.

Vinata froze, horrified for a split second. Composing herself, she shot back icily, "well if you've been around to see him practicing his Transcendentals, you would know, wouldn't you?"

"I have better things to do than overseeing the Transcendentals of a Rakshasa who can't even reach second stage."

Suddenly deciding that he had enough, Maruna lunged at Garuda, giving him every reason to clobber his son possibly to death. Years of nostalgia wore down Garuda's resolve and now, with temptation dangling in front of him, he could not resist.

Luckily, Vinata anticipated this moment long before it came and jumped in between them. She whipped a hand across Maruna's face, glaring at him heatedly as his eyes teared with betrayal. Without softening her expression, she turned and pulled her husband into a kiss so passionate it was usually reserved for the secrecy of their private caves. Garuda caught a glimpse of despair in Maruna's eyes as he wrapped his arms around her waist. Fueled by this gesture, Vinata clutched him tighter.

It was then that Maruna ran off, crying freely. He stopped just before rounding a cliff to wait for his mother to chase him, but she didn't so he cried harder and continued running.

With the amount of pressure Garuda exerted on Vinata's waist, one would think it'd have snapped by now. She peeled his arms away as they broke apart from each other.

He allowed her one of his rare smiles.

"Don't look so pleased with yourself," Vinata scolded lightly. "Because of you, Maruna thinks we're in a loveless marriage."

"Let him think what he wants."

"That kind of mentality isn't helping my cause, Garuda. I'm trying to get Maruna to see how this world works, but all he sees is a statue of a man he's told to call his father. He doesn't know you like I do. You have to make some allowances, regardless of whether you like him or not."

Garuda sighed, trying to remember how long it'd been since he last had to appease his wife to cooperate with her. Too long, it seemed. "What do you want me to do, acknowledge him every time we see each other? Instigate some kind of father-son bonding?"

"That would be a start," replied Vinata, hands on her hips.

Realizing that she was serious, Garuda grimaced.

She grabbed his hand in encouragement. "It's not that hard. You just have to try."

What Vinata didn't understand was that trying was the hard part.

**S-C-N-D**

_N0 – approx. 900 years_

**S-C-N-D**

"I don't—hic—understand," Maruna sobbed.

He sat scrunched up in a ball, face turned to stone because men didn't cry and if they did, they didn't let anyone see them cry. He knew because he overheard his father complaining about it to his mother in one of their many arguments.

Myna wasn't sure if she was the best person for him to talk to about this. She had a feeling that Maruna only came to her because she seemed like the closest friend Vinata had—which, in truth, was not true at all. She only ever carried errands for her queen, and small ones at that.

But she is an Upani and he is a Rakshasa. Hierarchy dictates that she must obey his commands, and since he asked for an ear and an opinion, she had to be there to lend both.

Maruna rubbed at his eyes for the umpteenth time. "Why does mom stay with him?" he wailed. "He's so mean to her. He doesn't love her at all."

Astonished, Myna barely managed, "that's not true."

"Yes it is!" he yelled. "They fight every day and he never says a nice word to her. And she only kisses him so that… so that he wouldn't kill me…"

Myna's eyes grew to the size of saucers. She inched closer and placed a tentative hand on Maruna's shoulder. "What happened?"

Maruna relayed the entire story to her while fighting a losing battle with his tear ducts. Myna caught a few glimpses at his wrinkled face and realized that without proper guidance, this child must be more lost and confused than anyone. The more he told her, the more she realized that Vinata and Garuda both avoided doing what was best for him: deliver the blunt truth. Instead, all three of them were running around in circles, each trying to patch a problem that wasn't there.

Myna was glad that he was only first stage. A first stage Rakshasa wouldn't be strong enough to inflict serious damage on her. Hopefully, by the time he grew up, he would have forgiven her for this conversation.

"Maruna, there isn't any way to put this nicely. Your father doesn't hate Vinata-nim. He hates you."

Maruna nodded numbly.

"You can't be more wrong. He loves Vinata-nim more than anyone. He's also insanely jealous that she pays so much attention to you. To him, the first priority of a female Nastika is to love her husband, but everything Vinata-nim does is going against that and it frustrates him."

Maruna nodded more hesitantly.

"Vinata-nim's maternal instincts urge her to be by your side, which isn't wrong because you need her and you're still too young for independence. Now do you see where the problem comes in?"

Maruna nodded thoughtfully. He lowered his head to swipe away any remaining tears before turning to her. "So everything will be better if I just stay away from my mom?"

"Mostly everything, but that doesn't mean that it's what you should do!" she added quickly. Vinata would have her head if she found out it was Myna's advice to have her son estrange her before he even reached second stage. Maruna only looked more puzzled and Myna sighed. So far, her advice wasn't getting them anywhere at all. "I'm not a male Rakshasa so I wouldn't know, but if I were in your place, I'd start making friends and spend time with them instead of hiding behind my mother all the time. Garuda-nim will stay with Vinata-nim longer than you live, but you won't always have her."

If his puffy cheeks were any indication, Myna would say that Maruna didn't like being told he would eventually lose to his frigid archenemy of a father. He really was just a child after all. How cute.

She allowed herself to overstep her boundaries and ruffle his hair fondly just _once_, summarizing their conversation in the age old saying, "when you're older, you will understand."

**S-C-N-D**

And the last line was, of course, inspired by The Fray, because I've been having far too much than a healthy dose of them. It also ties nicely, if you think about it, to Maruna's obsession with wisdom and age which he revealed while battling Kasak.**  
**

I inserted a few more twists in the plot so that Vinata will still be the second strongest Nastika by the time of The Finite, which means all your beloved characters will fall. :) Oh yes... You know who death is out for next.

Thanks for reading! Please leave a review!

-SCND


	23. Quagmire

Finally, I get some time to work on this story!

Countdown: seven!

Disclaimer: There are many things in this world that do not belong to me. Kubera is one of them.

**S-C-N-D**

Courtship of a Phoenix

…

_What have I done? If only you were still here, Yaksha…_

Shuri let out a shaky breath and turned her back on the bloodbath. Those who recognized her decision followed, but a great many remained behind. She should have taken a clue from the beginning, when the second in command of the Yaksha Clan turned her back on her, when, one by one, Nastikas started walking out.

She was a bad king and Yaksha never would have let this happen.

How in the world was she ever going to face Garuda now?

…

**Chapter Twenty-Three: Quagmire  
**_N0 - approx. 350 years_

…

"Mom! Mom!"

Garuda eyed the small tyke carefully. Although he openly showed his hostility, Maruna hadn't thrown a fit again after that day. Now well into his second stage, he was beginning to understand more about the nature of Suras. They had a mutual, unspoken agreement of pretending the other didn't exist. Their relationship was no less strained than it had been since his birth but because Maruna now had a sense of independence, Vinata no longer thought it necessary to hold his hand through everything he did. And for now, that was enough.

The young Rakshasa shot past Garuda and came to a sharp halt in front of his wife.

"Mom, what does it mean to throw someone into a mountain?" he asked innocently.

He felt a _smidgen _of betraying amusement.

"What?" exclaimed Vinata. "Where in Visnu's universe did you hear that?!"

At least he had enough decency to shift his weight uncomfortably. "Well, nowhere in particular. It's just that… some of the Rakshasas were saying that it's a popular euphemism for an abusive relationship and when I asked them where it came from, they told me to ask you..."

He could feel the simmering heat emitting from her body. Garuda sneaked a glance over to find his wife looking directly at him—to be specific, glaring at him as if he were the reason for all her life's suffering, which, to be honest, he might have a _little_ hand in.

Just a little.

And that was precisely why he smiled ever so faintly while raising a questioning eyebrow in response.

Vinata shot him her feisty _I'm going to pluck your feathers bald _look before dismissing Maruna's question. "Forget they ever said anything. What kind of person would throw someone into a mountain anyway?" she added after a pause.

"Indeed," Garuda just had to add in.

Maruna looked nonplussed, or maybe he was only realizing for the first time that his father was actually capable of smiling. Either way, he dismissed it and quickly left the scene lest _he _ended up victimized and thrown into a mountain.

"Ah, that joke never gets old, although I suppose I _should_ have been more mindful of my behavior back then." She scratched her head sheepishly. "It's probably a given that Nastikas are going to look up to the first and second of the clan. In some ways, I'm glad to have Avifauna steal the spotlight from me…" Vinata trailed off morosely. "Ah, did I say Avifauna? I meant Robin. That's right… Avifauna is no longer here."

Garuda's lips tightened as confirmation.

"Robin is the second in command now, isn't she?" Vinata grabbed her chin absentmindedly. Soon, she was kneading her cheeks, no longer so much thoughtful as perturbed. "Garuda… I never really gave it much thought, but how many Nastikas do we have left?"

It was one of those uncomfortable moments he'd never admit to anyone save for the most intimate of friends, rare instances where even his own stomach lurched with nausea. Garuda wanted to turn away, but Vinata knew him for too long and could read his body language too well. Dread crawling up his spine, he opened his mouth to answer.

"On second thought," she interjected, quickly turning away. "I'll just ask Vegavis the next time I see him."

He clenched his fists tightly.

This time, he was on his own. Shuri was off coordinating her god hunt. Gandharva now had a wife and Garuda, all too aware of the fleeting happiness of love, had not the heart to ask him for aid. Visnu, the very friend he needed the most, had been uncharacteristically absent for many years.

Garuda wanted to believe his word. He knew Visnu meant everything he said about protecting the clans his friends held so dearly to their hearts. But this time, Visnu had disappeared without a word. Shuri probably blamed herself for his disappearance. Gandharva was too blissfully ignorant to notice. And that brought Garuda right back to square one.

Alone.

**S-C-N-D**

_N0 – approx. 340 years_

**S-C-N-D**

Vegavis flinched at the ever sharp smell of blood—whose, he couldn't tell. If his father were alive, he would have been shamed by this newfound cowardice. Ever since Avifauna died, however, Vegavis became queasy at the sight of violence and gore.

Of course, it didn't help that he was in the Sura Realm, with the most beautiful Nastika in the world who just happened to be caked in the very blood that drove him crazy.

"I'm here to offer you a trade," Shuri sighed. She usually looked so lively. This was the very first time Vegavis saw her eyelids droop. "I know your niche within the clan, and that's why I came to you for an exchange of information."

Vegavis resisted the urge to clamp a hand over his nose. How did these Yaksha Suras ever get by with such sensitive noses? "But if it's information you need, it'd make more sense to go directly to Garuda." He winced at the somewhat raspy voice that came out. "What could you possibly want from a Rakshasa like me?"

Shuri, fortunately, noticed his discomfort and quickly changed her appearance. "You misunderstand. I do not wish to interrogate you in any way. I merely want you to deliver a message to Garuda. From me."

"Why?" He was all kinds of crazy to question the intentions of a Nastika who could blow him into smithereens at any given second. But Shuri had always handled things with consideration, and Vegavis didn't want to be blown apart by Garuda either. The entire clan could see how stressed their king had become. Even Vinata could not relax him on his best days. Vegavis couldn't risk death now, not before he found the cause of his father's death.

"I will not be seeing Garuda for a while," Shuri uttered softly. "He will be mad at me for driving him into a corner."

"Ah, it's bad news, isn't it? So I'm to deliver the message _and_ bear the brunt of my king's anger."

"Complaining is unbecoming of you," Shuri told him, looping her sleeves around opposite arms. She straightened her back, ears and tail so that in an instant, the tiredness dissipated and Vegavis almost felt compelled to bow. "I know what I am asking of you and I know that you have no obligation to another king, allies or not. I would, however, like you to hear out my offer entirely before jumping to conclusions."

Vegavis nodded and apologized.

"The Yaksha Clan is known for being notorious gossipers. Considering that we have the second biggest population of the eight clans, my network is very wide. I know more remote corners of the universe than any Nastika would ever bother to explore. I am almost always the first one to hear of news from faraway. If you deliver my message to Garuda, I will tell you what happened to your father, why he died, and who _really _killed him."

Vegavis stared at her long and hard. Shuri's dull eyes filtered out all emotion. While she stood strong, he slowly reached the brink of wavering. _Do not be deceived_, he told himself. _This is a Nastika who accompanies a Primeval God._

"Do you not think me to be a fool for wanting to know what became of him?" He had often been called a fool even when Avifauna was still alive. "Despite that he hated me, I admire him much more than I should."

"Do you believe your situation is very far-fetched?" She shook her head and smiled. "My child, I've been told way too many eccentric tales for yours to faze me."

**S-C-N-D**

_N0 – approx. 330 years_

**S-C-N-D**

Whatever reason Visnu disappeared for, Garuda had an inkling that it _might_ have something to do with Kali. Garuda had only seen Kali two times before in his life and both times were unfortunate. It is never a good thing when Kali takes an interest in you because it is precisely then that you find yourself wrapped up in a suffocating bondage cloak with a conniving woman smirking in your face.

He folded his wings right before she could shred them into pieces.

"Maybe you'd rather talk?" Kali asked, almost gloating in her power. She waved the binds off his mouth and they slithered back to her like slimy snakes.

"…"

"Or not, evidently. Visnu says you're very proud. Do you know how much it annoys me that you don't even consider me worthy of speaking to?" Her cyan eyes glowed in the dim light. "You may think I'm the enemy, Garuda, but you're wrong. I'm on your side." Kali leaned in, ever so pleased at his discomfort. "I'm the _only _one on your side. _There is no one left._"

She whipped around, skipping over rocks as her cloak dragged Garuda's figure close behind her. "Visnu and Shuri, they both let you go. Do you really think that Visnu never saw this coming? He saw the bloodbath long ago. He knew from the beginning that every single Nastika who left on Shuri's campaign would inevitably be massacred or defect to the Asura Clan. And yet, he did nothing to stop it," Kali whipped back, shrugging, "like the wonderful friend that he is. And the funny thing is that this isn't the first time, but it's probably not much of a surprise to you, who've known him for so long.

"Although…" her eyes narrowed critically, "there is a very easy solution to offset the imbalance of power. A pity it's the one path you'll never choose."

"Why do you want this from me?" he demanded. "I am strong, but there are other entities who clearly surpass me in terms of power. You could have chosen Ananta or Vritra instead."

"The conditions are right for you, Garuda. Only you can give me what I want."

"You are afraid of their power," he accused rather vehemently. "You fear that they will refuse and obliterate you. You are selfish enough to destroy the life of a noble king rather than wait for another universe to come."

Kali snapped her fingers and her cloak bound tighter, cutting into his skin. "Destroy _your _life?" The goddess's voice was ice cold. "I am going out of my way to offer you the generosity of saving your clan. How long do you think you can tread under this sheet of thin ice before it breaks? Your wife is already the second strongest Nastika in your clan, in her _female form_. Sometimes I wonder why you're willing to go so far for her when she is about to leave in the blink of an eye. How much time do you think she has left?"

"..." Visnu's prophecy escaped his mind because he had always steered Vinata out of harm's way. Garuda was confident that his friend would either heed him of the tragedy before it came or make accommodations for him to adjust.

Kali was a liar. He would not believe her words.

"What a shameful king you are. If only your clan knew what you've sacrificed so _easily_. All this… just to keep one Nastika female." Kali kissed her teeth distastefully. "And if she ever finds out," she jeered, running a sharp fingernail down Garuda's cheek, "do you honestly think that she'll stay female for _you_?"

The goddess flicked her finger, leaving behind a sharp gash on his face.

"What valuable, _wasted_ efforts to keep both your clan and relationship afloat. Not even kings are infallible. You forgot somewhere along the way that there are no feelings in this universe, nor the one before, nor the one before that, nor the one after this. And for you two, without even a stable friendship to hinge your marriage on, it stands truer than ever."

One by one, the ropes slipped off his figure. Kali, cross-armed, stared expectantly at him. "I won't make this offer again, Garuda, so prioritize carefully. Do you or do you not accept?"

If only he were made of marble… Garuda lifted his head and tried to emulate stone as well as he could. "I do."

"Good choice." Kali's smirk reemerged, quickly followed by the sly curving of her lower eyelids. "You have not proven to be a fool. For you, I will restore the glory of the Garuda Clan."

**S-C-N-D**

I hope it made it apparent that Kali's seduction isn't sexual. In fact, she quite dislikes him. She has a busy agenda of her own and Garuda is getting in her way. Can he not see that she is the most beautiful and powerful goddess in this universe? Why can he not just accept her offer gratefully? I tried not to degrade her to a conniving man thief but they do have a rather bad relationship if Ch97 is anything to go by.

I've been quite mean to Gandharva lately, demoting him to a very minor role... In fact, I don't think he's going to return. But keep an eye out for his wife.

And the running gag with the mountain? No, that's not the last time you're going to see it. My humor is of the redundant kind. Deepest apologies.

Thanks for reading! Please leave a review!

-SCND


	24. Above It All

Continuation of the mass update. xD

Countdown: six!

Oh, yes, for all who have not read Menaka and the Sea Monster, I will be leaving the Kubera Fandom after the completion of CoaP. This story has just sapped too much energy out of me. I don't think I have enough creativity to come up with another multi-chaptered story in this universe. Another oneshot, however, is possible, though very unlikely.

Disclaimer: There are many things in this world that do not belong to me. Kubera is one of them.

**S-C-N-D**

Courtship of a Phoenix

…

"You, the Second and I, the Third of the once so noble Garuda Clan… Which one of us is stronger, I wonder?"

Avifauna thought it was a daft question. "I am stronger than you."

Slim, green lips twitched. "So our rankings would dictate." Her hand rested on the hilt of her scimitar, and Avifauna had known Robin too well to forget that she considered the drawing of her blade to be an official declaration of war. "But that is only because of your ability, and one can easily bypass that annoyance if one knows how. Besides, how can you gauge my battle prowess? You haven't seen me fight in billions of years."

"I can say the same for you," he shot back, scowling. "Though the Robin I remembered would never have drawn his sword over such meaningless matters."

She paused, but only long enough for him to finish. Scowling at the clear distinction of genders, she drew her sword, letting the sound of blade against sheath slice the atmosphere.

Robin took a swing, only to be blocked by one of Avifauna's armguards.

"Meaningless matters?"

Clang.

"This world is full of them. We Nastikas are immortal."

Clang.

"Power. Friends. Family. What are they but meaningless concepts meant for idiots and fools?"

At the fourth strike, she held and reinforced her scimitar with her free hand, putting enough pressure to place cracks in Avifauna's armor. "We are clearly superior beings, above all these feelings that change and wane so quickly," Robin recited the philosophy that once united them as the first, strongest and most intimate duo of friends in the Garuda Clan. Her female voice, strange to his ears, rolled off her tongue with such ease, such slickness. "But yet, it is precisely these conditional values that give us what little meaning we have."

Avifauna growled and leaped back, but not before Robin placed a mean gash on his forearm.

"When you raise yourself so high that nothing is worth fighting for," she hissed, "then there is nothing left for you in this universe."

…

**Chapter Twenty-Four: Above It All  
**_N0 - approx. 300 years_

…

"I'm not daft enough to think for a single moment that you did this while believing you could hide it from me," Vinata spewed hotly. "_Don't _you touch me."

Garuda let his hand fall.

"You lay one finger on me, and this planet explodes."

Maruna peered out from behind a jagged rock fearfully. A few friends told him his parents were stirring up a huge commotion in his father's nest. He got no less than fifteen piteous looks as he rushed over; it was no secret, after all, that Garuda openly cheated on his mother. At first, Maruna was reluctant to believe the suppressed rumor. He recalled the words Myna told him, about how his father loved his mother more than anyone in the universe.

Besides, what could he do if it was true? He was but a weak, second stage Rakshasa, one that couldn't develop to save his life. How could he possibly protect his mother?

And yet, it was the scariest experience of his life to see her actually defend herself because one, she could blow apart mountains faster than his father could make them and two, she was no longer a she.

The Rakshasas had always openly expressed their excitement over seeing two male Nastika fight for dominance. Maruna hadn't a clue why. It was _terrifying_.

A row of two Nastikas was one where the ground shook with every articulated word. Heat swirled around the two figures, intense heat that made mountains look like liquid rock. Maruna's face stung with the prickle of a thousand tiny needles, and that was after his mother's sheer power had been mellowed by his fire attribute.

"That is an oddly childish threat for you to make," Garuda sighed. "There's no reason to drag the rest of the clan into this."

Vinata stiffened, and that was when both he and Maruna knew that it had been the wrong thing to say.

"Really?" he barked, red eyes flaring. "That's what you want, isn't it. Keep our problems covered. The less people that know, the better, so eventually you can worm your way out without having anyone notice. You can't cut down trees without removing the stumps and call that a meadow."

"Trust me," Garuda shot back, equally bitterly. "I know exactly where the root of the problem lies."

Vinata involuntarily took a step back. The wave of heat around them began to recede, as if he was sucking up all the energy. Soon, the ground no longer baked and Maruna finally felt like he could breathe again.

Although it was still warm, the Rakshasa got shivers down his neck.

"If it was anyone but you…" the king continued.

"Is that supposed to make me feel _special_?" snapped Vinata. "That you would have _killed_ me had you not fallen in love with me?"

_No! _Maruna's eyes widened to the size of saucers.

Vinata straightened and swallowed, regaining his composure. "Well, you've clearly got everything planned out. You can probably tell me every dirty detail, every excuse as to why you had a child with that _woman_. But I don't want to hear it and you have no obligation to tell me anything. You're well within your right to do whatever you want to save this clan. You can play king by yourself for as long as you'd like, Garuda. I'm not going to help you anymore. I tried once, and surprise, surprise, this is how things turn to be."

"And Maruna?"

Maruna jolted.

"You're just going to leave him?"

"Well, he has two parents, doesn't he?" Vinata gritted through his teeth. "Although I'm sure he would say otherwise. If you haven't been playing your paternal part, you have no right to hold this responsibility over me."

From behind the rock, the small child gasped softly. He wished he was still first stage so he could run up to Vinata and demand him to return to being his mom, to never leave his side. But as it was, that would just make the situation worse for everyone. He didn't wish to become a burden to Vinata again, especially now of all times when the Nastika must have been hurting so much on the inside.

Hot tears gathered on his lower eyelid. "Don't go," he whispered, much too softly for anyone to hear but himself.

"I don't know if you remember, Garuda, but once, I had two very dear friends. One of them was killed by _her_ creations. Out of every single possible thing wrong with this scenario, nothing aggravates me more than the fact that you would still do this knowing perfectly well how much it kills me. Have you always had such little disrespect for Cepphus? And Kalavinka, whom by now you've probably forgotten? Why should I accept you as king if this is all that's going to happen over and over?"

"I remember," he mumbled.

Shaking his head, Vinata took flight. "I am so, _so _disappointed in you," he said in a barely audible whisper.

"Stay safe," Garuda muttered in a weak monotone. He held out his hand as red feathers started falling from a sky. One of them landed barely within the breadth of his fingers, but quickly slipped away and floated down into the abyss.

Maruna rushed out from his hiding spot. "Stop him!" he shouted, grabbing at Garuda's cloak. "Go and bring him back! Hurry up and do it, dammit!"

Garuda kept staring into the orange sky.

**S-C-N-D**

_N0 - approx. 300 years_**  
**

******S-C-N-D**  


"I came and I brought wine." Gandharva held his canteen high into the air. "Lots and lots of wine!"

Since Garuda didn't respond, he seated himself around the semi-comatose bird, set a cup in front of him and poured an abundance of clear liquid into it. He then poured a goblet for himself, tapped it against Garuda's and brought it to his lips.

"So let me guess what you're thinking: '_why_ did I do this? _What_ could I have possibly thinking? _Why_ didn't I first consult Gandharva and his unprecedented wisdom before sleeping with that wench?' Am I right?"

"Not really."

Two green eyebrows flew well into his hairline.

"I don't regret what I did," Garuda elaborated. "I made the right choice for my clan. It is just unfortunate that the results weren't as I intended."

"You mean Vinata is _not_ right for once?"

The corner of Garuda's mouth twitched ever so slightly. "Yes, that would be one way to put it."

Gandharva's expression suddenly turned cold. "Listen," he advised, setting a hand on his best friend's shoulder, "no matter what, you are the king, whether he accepts it or not. I know this has been an issue for Visnu knows how long, but maybe it's not something that can be changed in the end. It doesn't make you more or less of a king and trust me, there have been worse."

Garuda shrugged off his hand. "I'm not concerned about that. I care less and less of what Vinata thinks of me every day."

"And maybe that's your problem there, buddy," Gandharva said, reaching over for Garuda's drink. "Why couldn't you have gotten a nice, peace-loving wife like mine?" He chugged down the drink in one go. "But really, Kali? I always thought you were the most levelheaded of us four. What did she offer in order to convince you to agree to this?"

Garuda finally touched his cup after Gandharva poured some more wine for them both. "Nothing I haven't already known," admitted the former. "It was quite disappointing for the infamous liar of the Primeval Gods." His eyes drifted downcast. "She told me that Vinata would die, so I thought about it. The more I thought, the more I realized I don't even have a semblance of a plan for what'll happen after that." He downed the burning liquid. "I don't want to be that Nastika that loses faith in the world after his wife leaves him."

Gandharva reeled back in surprise. "That's it?" he gasped disbelievingly. "So this is the end, after almost a million years…"

"Yes, a million years. Amongst relationships of our kind, it's been one of the longest and I feel… regretful that it's come to this—not that Kali destroyed my relationship with her demands, but that she made me realize that we're already well into the beginning of the end."

Garuda stared pensively into his swirling wine. "And I hope when it comes time for Vinata to go, I'll still be able to mourn her death."

**S-C-N-D**

_N0 - approx. 300 years_**  
**

**S-C-N-D**

There was little Vinata had in mind after leaving his home. Soon, he slowed to a stop on a red star. He supposed it was time for him to set up a new lifestyle, find a new planet to make a suitable nest in. Anything would be better than simply lounging around. Why couldn't he remember the days when he'd lived as a nomad?

Life seemed so purposeful back then.

Scratching his head, Vinata tried to recall the places he'd gone—different parts of the Sura Realm, the planet where Cepphus's body used to lie, Ananta Clan territory, even several human planets. None of these were places he particularly wanted to revisit. They'd only bring back tragic memories and enrage him enough to do something stupid.

He sighed.

Life is so dreary when you're alone.

Vinata opened a portal to the Sura Realm and stepped in. He quickly scanned the grounds for Robin's nest, to no avail. If she saw him in this form, she'd be sure to throw a fit, but it wasn't as if he had anywhere better to go. Maybe it was just better to risk death by Robin's hand.

As luck would have it, Vinata was quite a distance away from Robin's nest. After flying for five minutes, he realized he wasn't in a place where he could freely search for her. This was Asura's territory, and it spanned as far as the horizon.

Knowing he'd be openly attacked if he appeared to be passing by, Vinata grounded once again. He calmly made his way past Asura's clan of thousands. Ravana and Asura were usually both present and Vinata had no intention of angering neither Nastika. He only knew of one place that received visitors on a frequent basis.

"Wow! Vinata, is that you? I haven't seen you in forever! Restoring your glory as the Nastika who killed four of Ananta's?"

"No longer spouting out babies, I see," he quipped dryly.

From his seat, Ravana stared up at him through thick blue eyelashes. "Speak for yourself. Didn't you also have a child with Garuda?"

He flinched. "That was a thing of the past."

"Oh?" Ravana's smile suddenly enlarged tenfold. "Are you here to join my collection of Garuda Nastikas as well? Doesn't it say so much about a king, if even his wife is willing to leave him? Or maybe you're feeling lonely and unwelcome by his side? No matter. The Asura Clan will always be here to welcome you with open arms."

His focus shifted from Ravana to the four silhouettes behind him, which seemed content with keeping their distance and whispering in the dark. The four pairs of eyes—two blue, one green, one purple—all flashed conspicuous, hostile glances his way. One woman and three men, that was all that was left of the eleven Garuda Nastikas that left with Shuri. Such a massacre was unprecedented.

Ravana followed Vinata's line of sight. Donning a fake smile, he asked if Vinata would like to talk with his clansmen.

"No, that is quite all right. I feel… comfortable right where I am."

Again, he pretended to be surprised, but this time, quickly dropped the act. Ravana spun around on his rock to talk with a few Nastikas from the Gandharva Clan, who looked no happier than their Garuda allies.

Vinata sat right on the spot and listened in on their conversation.

Ravana might be arrogant and vain, but not any more than a typical Nastika at the beginning of the universe. He spoke of glory, destruction, power and everything a defected Nastika could possibly seek. His melodic voice was the kind that became more hypnotizing the longer one listened to it. His words dripped of honey.

And it was all so disgusting.

Vinata remained seated next to the queen bee for weeks on end, not talking when he was not asked to, and only nodding solemnly when Ravana spewed some random fact about his former battle prowess. By the end of two months, he learned how to pretend to listen while plucking out strands of disheveled feathers.

Ravana and ten other Nastikas suddenly rose to their feet.

"We're leaving for battle," he said, turning Vinata's way. "Don't you want to join? I know you miss a good fight from the old times. You look so _bored_. There are better things to do than poke at the dirt, you know?"

The female Garuda Nastika snickered.

Vinata lifted his head and told them, "I'm good."

Ravana didn't seem too happy at the answer. "Your loss," he grunted, expression dropping. "Just don't regret it when we come back with goblets of god's blood."

"Actually, I think it's time for me to go."

A dozen heads turned.

"What?" demanded Ravana. Of the many Nastika that sought out the Asura Clan, less than a tenth of them ever expressed intent of rejoining their king. Needless to say, he wasn't one to take the news very well and no one wished to anger one of the ten strongest entities in the universe.

Vinata merely rose to his talons with a shrug. "Somehow I find that my interests and yours are no longer the same."

Ravana scoffed. "Hah! Running back to hubby dearest again, like you always do?" For a second, he sounded less like the confident leader and more like the whiny little princess Vinata was used to dealing with.

"Whatever you say."

Searching for Robin was out of question at this point, because Vinata had forgotten how many years had passed since he last slaughtered for glory and not bitter revenge. Now, the Nastikas who talked as if the world hadn't changed since two billion years ago sounded so pointless and ignorant.

And killing for the sake of killing just seemed so… banal.

**S-C-N-D**

_N0 - approx. 280 years_**  
**

**S-C-N-D**

"Another one?" Vinata asked as Menaka gestured him to lower his head.

Menaka looked very grave. "Oh, you can never have red and yellow without blue."

"Blue doesn't even look good on me." Nonetheless he lowered his head and she looped a third and hopefully final necklace around his neck for the day. "Are you sure you're even allowed to make this many for me? I mean, I don't even usually see Gandharva walking around with _two._"

"It's the least I could do for a Nastika who'd rather choose to visit an aimless pacifist than Ravana and Co.," Menaka sighed as she slid her lower body back into the water.

"Oh, that's right! I forgot you didn't like watery planets."

The Gandharva Clan generally did not spend much time in the Sura Realm, with the exception of one or two Nastikas that considered themselves part of Ravana's posse. Other Suras preferred planets that were either frozen over or contained mostly water. Having proclaimed many times that she couldn't possibly live without a beautiful garden, Menaka served as one of the few notable exceptions.

"Well, you're a bit on the boring side of most Nastikas I know, but it's not a bad thing on days where I just want to lie down and sleep. It's a bummer having to leave every time Gandharva shows up though."

"Then don't!" Menaka grasped his hand. "Are you worried that he'll tell Garuda that you're here with me?"

Vinata thought about it for a second. "It's not really that," he finally concluded. "He's not going to chase me down and force me to go back, but… how should I say this? I want to keep him in the dark for a little bit longer."

Menaka quirked her head to the side in puzzlement.

"Don't worry about it." Vinata patted her shoulder. "Here, take these necklaces back. Give them to Gandharva later. I'll be going now."

Visits to Menaka had become a daily basis after Vinata's falling out with Ravana. The Garuda Nastika decided he desperately needed a new approach to life, and who else to provide it but the very person Ravana hated the most? Not only was Menaka twice as beautiful as his female form, but she also defied all the principles he stood for to boot.

To his surprise, Menaka wasn't found on Willarv like Vinata remembered. Instead, he found her on a very small planet, unnamed and barely habitable to humans because of its high population of middle class Suras. Because many of them were Superior Suras, it also served as a great hiding place for a Nastika.

_I suppose I should flush out all the bugs and insects while I'm here…_ he thought.

Uncannily, the number of Ananta Suras on this planet was too low to be considered normal. Vinata knew that there weren't any other Nastikas present—Nastikas were very vocal about their presence, and would have openly staked their claim on the land.

_Rakshasa?_ He thought. For a strong and experienced Rakshasa, it wouldn't be impossible. As long as one remained on a planet no warmongering Nastika cared about, one could easily rise to the top of the food chain.

Of course, whoever it was probably wouldn't be thrilled about Vinata's presence.

He gained some more altitude. It was harder to spot Superior Suras from up high, but not a difficult task for a hunter as experienced as Vinata. At the first flash of blue through the cracks of bright green foliage, he shot down and snatched the young boy by the neck.

The Ananta Upani yelped and duly went silent, although he continued to struggle as Vinata dangled him by the neck.

"You'd make for a great meal," Vinata taunted, taking great pleasure in seeing his prey's neck hairs stand on end. "Unfortunately, I have no need for food, and it's not me you're concerned about, is it?"

He shook his head fervently.

"Who's the other predator on the planet?"

"I-I don't know. H-he has a unique Transcendental and none of us can see him coming."

"Is he a Garuda Sura?"

"Y-yes. I think," the Upani added as an afterthought.

Vinata grabbed his chin in consideration and began trudging through the deep forest. "Hmm, do you think he'll show his face if I make an offering?"

"Quite possibly." Now too aware that he wasn't going to be let go any time soon, he peeped, "may I ask what exactly you're planning to offer?"

The Nastika glared at him.

"I figured…"

Despite the Upani's struggles, Vinata kept a tight clamp on his neck while looking for a clearing. However, after walking for half an hour, the forest only became thicker. Finally losing his patience, he stopped and burned a large circle of trees to the ground.

"Free food!" Vinata hollered, holding up the Upani. "Come and get it!"

Suras of Garuda and Yaksha heritage flocked from the surrounding land, but as expected, the gathered throng consisted mostly of freeloading inferior Suras. Unimpressed by their laziness, he threw the Ananta Upani into the air and told them they could eat him if they could catch him. At once, the mob descended viciously, but the Ananta Sura quickly used a light-based Transcendental to fend them off. As he almost slipped away, a claw seemingly materialized from the shadow of a tree and latched onto his neck, tearing through his windpipe and killing him for real.

The yellow-green Rakshasa soon shed his camouflage entirely. He tipped his head. "Sorry Vinata-nim. I had to make sure you weren't going to eat him first."

He lifted his head and Vinata squinted to get a better look at his face. "You…are…" He couldn't quite make out the resemblance before, but now he could see that the Rakshasa's nose looked exactly like… "Robin's son. She's still keeping an eye out for you. Well… more like half an eye, but are you sure you can show your face so freely?"

"You don't know?" He was surprised. "My mother—biological father—has been dead for more than a century!"

"What?"

He pushed two fingers under his green bangs. "I thought something like this would happen. Mother doesn't keep anyone by her side so everyone expected her to die alone. Some Suras from other clans think she already died a long time ago. Even I wouldn't have known if I hadn't been keeping constant tabs on her. Then again, living in constant fear is a rather… special condition."

Vinata, too, felt the urge to press his fingers to his forehead. Now things made so much sense. If Robin was dead, then of course Garuda would begin panicking —not that it was any excuse for resorting to _Kali _of all people. If their clan was really suffering, why wasn't Visnu there to lend a hand?

_Unless there's a lot more that Garuda's hiding from me than he's letting on_, he thought resentfully. _Not that it'd be anything new._

Exasperated, he threw up his arms and exclaimed, "I give up."

Vinata stomped back into the forest, leaving the rest of the Sura befuddled. After a quick moment of deliberation, Robin's son left the Upani carcass and quickly followed after.

"Vinata-nim!" he yelled.

"I'm never going to go back to the mountains," the Nastika gritted through his teeth. He punched a nearby tree, effectively snapping its trunk. "From now on, I'm going to take on the same lifestyle your mother did. No one will ever see me again. See how Garuda likes that!"

Unfortunately for Vinata, the Rakshasa inherited Robin's unparalleled speed. Using another Transcendental, he zoomed pass Vinata and turned. Robin's son managed to walk backward faster than Vinata was walking forward, somehow managing to aggravate him even more. Sensing Vinata's anger, he stepped aside and bowed again.

"I understand. I won't bother you when you're angry. But if you ever feel like leaving the planet, please come visit my wife first. She may offer you some useful insight, and, also, she misses you dearly."

**S-C-N-D**

I've begun to do sketches of my original characters. I have both Robin and Myna planned out so far. I know how Avifauna's going to look, and I've got half of Vegavis down. :P So it'll just be Robin's son, Professor Rahiro and Rina left!

Oh, and I'm also attaching a half chapter, a oneshot about Maruna and Yuta in this fic.

Thanks for reading! Please leave a review!

-SCND


	25. Half Chapter: Adrift

A oneshot from which I got the idea for Courtship of a Phoenix. In retrospect, there were quite a few things that don't match up. I made several changes for compatibility... but in terms of story, CoaP is still the main timeline, with possible discrepancies in this minishot.

So, this is it! Everything I had posted on KuCa has been moved to FFN! :)

Disclaimer: There are many things in this world that do not belong to me. Kubera is one of them.

**S-C-N-D**

Courtship of a Phoenix

…

"Our king's standards have really fallen."

"Such a shameful act... even Visnu won't forgive him this time."

"I can't imagine what his wife must be feeling, to be left for such a _disgusting_ woman."

Maruna left his father's side to face the rest of his clan's Nastikas, all of which were shaking their heads. One of them glanced down at him.

"Don't you think so too, son of Garuda?"

…

**Chapter Twenty-Four and Half: Adrift  
**_N0 - approx. 300 years_

…

A young bird, Maruna never understood why his mother _had _to leave the mountains. He never understood why his father endured the constant badgering of the other Nastikas, and he couldn't for the life of him understand how he could just stand there and never say a peep to defend himself against the accusations. Because that only meant the rumours were true. And it was entirely his fault that one day Vinata became a man with huge orange-red wings, leaving into the endless horizon.

Garuda stared for a long time at that small spot of sky. Even after she was gone, he had remained stiff and unmoving. Even though Maruna asked him day after day if his mother would be back, Garuda said nothing. With a silver sword limply gripped in his father's hands, he had the look of a defeated king.

In the years after, Garuda cared little for Maruna, not that it was anything new. The Rakshasa was allowed to venture as far as he would like, as long as he didn't travel too deep into Ananta Clan territory. His favourite pastime was doing the figure eights in the sky that Vinata had taught him to do when she had been female and still present.

He beat the feathers out of any Suras that taunted him for being stuck in his second stage. He practiced his Transcendentals until he was starving, and hunted until he was full.

Still, Vinata had not returned.

Still, Maruna didn't know why.

He did, however, spot a pale white Sura with raven hair creeping about the base of the mountains one sudden day. The little boy looked hopeless and was swiveling his head back and forth, lost in the vastness of Garuda's land.

"What's a foreigner doing here?" Maruna mused to himself.

The boy took another step forward, only to land on a loose rock, causing several boulders in front of him to fall and destroy the path that he was trekking on. His hands flew to his mouth and he bit his nails nervously. But had he rounded the bend, he would have discovered the path cut off by a larger gap a little further up anyway.

Maruna swooped down to the Sura, landing on the other side of the chasm so that the little boy could not reach him, just in case. He remembered Vinata warning him over and over that the physical appearance of a Sura does not equate to their strength.

"You can't travel in these lands by walking," Maruna told him. "You have to fly."

The boy opened his mouth in protest, showcasing rows of teeth that indicated his Rakshasa prestige. A Yaksha? Gandharva? Maruna knew that all Suras in human form retained animalistic features. He couldn't see any ears and tails protruding so the boy had to have been hiding his race under his cloak.

"In any case, what are you doing here on Garuda's territory? You're lucky I found you first. Any other Sura would have torn you apart and eaten you for lunch."

"I-I am a Garuda."

Maruna squinted his eyes in disbelief. "You? You can't lie, can you? I know all the Rakshasas in the mountains. If you are a Garuda, why aren't you flying?"

"B-because…" The boy lowered his face until only the tip of his nose was poking out from underneath his cloak.

Maruna spread his wings and took a huge leap over the gap that separated them. The pale Sura took two steps back to avoid being crushed by his huge, red figure. He was still leaning back when Maruna leaned forward to examine his features.

"W-what are you doing?"

"You said you're a Garuda? Here, let me help you fly."

Like his mother had done to him, Maruna grabbed the boy's small figure by the waist and flung him off the mountain into the abyss below. Afterward, when he peered over the cliff to see his handiwork, all he saw was the tearing of grey eyes and the Sura biting his lip hard enough to draw lines of blood. Black blood.

Just as Maruna was sure he would fall splat and be devoured by scavenging Garuda Suras below, huge wings sprung from the boy's back. One was beautifully adorned with dark grey feathers. The other was ragged and horned, sharp and bat-like.

"Oh my god. Is that—"

"Chaos Can. Look at him, fumbling in flight. There is truly no grace in their ways."

"His wings are so ugly."

"So he's the reason Vinata-nim left. He dares to show his face to Maruna-nim! He dares to return to Garuda-nim's sacred grounds, that bastard!"

Maruna was shaken by the impact of an earthquake as more and more Suras amassed to laugh and jeer at the spectacle. Every word about him, about his mother and father became a bigger weight that fell on his shoulders. Before long, he felt like he was suffocating and sinking into the very ground he stood on.

Still, the child in front of him was in an invariably worse situation. Every two flaps, he faltered and fell on the side of his heavier, uglier wing. Maruna could see the strained muscles of his left arm from trying to hold himself afloat. He could see the spot of landing the strange Sura headed for and how his line of flight would just fall a little short of it.

In a split second, one of Garuda's sons made an irrevocable decision to spread his wings and lend a hand to the other. Following his mother's example, Maruna caught his nervous half brother by the waist and lifted him up into the sky.

"Like this," Maruna told him. "You're doing it wrong. You need to flap your wings like you're aiming for the sky, like you're unafraid because you're a proud Rakshasa of the noble Garuda clan."

Open jawed, Maruna's little brother peered up at him in wonder. Messy black bangs covered his eyes. Maruna smiled back at him before abruptly letting go.

The moment his arms left the boy's body, the younger brother panicked and flapped his wings wildly in the air, reverting to his lopsided state. Maruna remained flying above him, but did not attempt to help.

"Remember what I told you. Remember that feeling of air whistling through your feathers. If you make it to that cliff—" Maruna pointed at an edge three mountains away "—then I will acknowledge you as my brother and an equal."

He gave a single nod and began to flap his wings. The young Sura was unrefined, unsteady and gradually descending. Every time he dipped a little lower into the ravines below, he would strain his muscles to take two hefty flaps and bring himself level with Maruna once more.

Three quarters through the journey, he heaved and panted with unrivaled tiredness. Maruna stayed a constant space of two wing spans in front of him, flying backward as he encouraged the small Sura to persevere. Just as it looked like he was going to halt and drop dead midair, the red bird hit his head hard and his brother stepped onto solid rock, grasping heavily for air.

"Ow," groaned Maruna, both hands clutching the injury. "You did it, congratulations."

Then, just because he felt like it, he reached out a hand to ruffle the boy's dark hair fondly. The boy didn't appear to dislike it. In fact, he smiled under Maruna's touch. It was a bright smile that made him seem a thousand times more Garuda than he was Chaos.

"Thank you, hyung-nim," he squeaked nervously. "When I came, I was afraid that the Garuda Suras wouldn't accept me because of my other half. I thought you would hate me more than anyone else because it's my fault that your mother's gone."

Maruna lifted his hand off of the boy's head, noting that he had again been reduced to a nervous wreck. The pale Sura was so small and helpless. He couldn't understand how anyone could hate him just because he was mothered by someone completely despicable.

"My mother's going to come back one day," he assured his brother, smiling. "She always does. And she'll like you. She just hasn't met you yet. The more important thing we have to worry about is my father. Does Garuda-nim know that you're here yet?"

"Ah!" exclaimed the boy, as if he'd just thought of it now."Uh, no… not yet."

Maruna grinned mischievously. "Do you know where Garuda-nim's nest is?"

"N-no?"

"It's over there," he announced with a grin, pointing at the tallest mountain, towering considerably above all others despite the fact that it's way off in the direction of the western horizon. "I'll race you."

"W-what? No! Hyung-nim!"

**S-C-N-D**

So, that's it, really. Chapter twenty-five will come when I feel an overwhelming urge to finish this story.

Also, there's an off chance that CoaP will exceed thirty chapters. Let's just keep the count at thirty for now. :D

Thanks for reading! Please leave a review!

-SCND


	26. The Catalyst

Countdown: five!

I have to go back and change all my "Transcendency"s to "Transcendental"s.

I'm putting a backstory of Avifauna and Robin in the author's note at the end of the chapter because I probably won't find a way to integrate it and I quite like having backstories for OCs. It makes them quirky and real.

Kestrel is a type of falcon.

Disclaimer: There are many things in this world that do not belong to me. Kubera is one of them.

**S-C-N-D**

Courtship of a Phoenix

…

The forest was his haven. Five hundred years ago, he'd found this hiding place, one of very few habitable planets made from a Nastika's unique Transcendental. But it was long abandoned by the Nastika who created it and he, Kestrel, established dominance.

Not a single Sura left this planet since the day he came. No one was supposed to know of its existence. So how did he, the master of stealth, get caught?

The other Rakshasa said nothing. Brown hair, brown eyes, a yellow headband and maroon cape, he looked exactly as Kestrel's wife described.

"Are you here to kill me, son of Avifauna?"

"I am a messenger, not a fighter."

"You look… hostile for a messenger," Kestrel said carefully. "I've been living too long in the shadow of my mother's wrath to distinguish friend from foe yet I can still sense your pent up anger. Is it because I am the son of the Nastika who helped kill your father, or is it because I married the only living Sura to which you are related by blood?"

…

**Chapter Twenty-Five: The Catalyst  
**_N0 - approx. 280 years_

…

Instead of searching for a single nest, Vinata figured he could just level the entire forest. But because that particular decision would yield less than satisfactory results, he was stuck with the nitty-gritty. How reminiscent of the long and distant memory of searching for Menaka on Willarv. The only difference is that then, he actually knew what he was doing.

Sort of.

With only a slight inkling as to whom the green Rakshasa's mate was, he set out in the rough direction. Northwest, the Rakshasa had told him, which narrowed it down to two thousand trees out of about twenty four thousand.

If not for the fact that there was literally no one else alive in the universe Vinata could confide in, he wouldn't even be searching for Myna in the first place. The idea of Vegavis's cantankerous daughter settling down and becoming domesticated… well it was very foreign to say the least.

It was far from his forte, but nonetheless, Vinata attempted to write a message in fire. Some Suras, like Shess, could arrange elements into the human alphabet expertly. His attempt failed and quickly smothered with a quick puff of smoke.

"Vinata-nim?"

Ah, she must have seen the smoke.

Vinata convinced himself that he knew Myna too long to fall for her dramatics. Not only did she hug him, she brashly tackled him with her whole body. Thank god he had a sturdy masculine build because otherwise their feathers would have been at the mercy of some sharp plant that'd _conveniently_ break their fall.

"I had seventeen Suras searching on five different planets. Thank god I finally found you! I was so scared you were heading to the Chaos Clan's territory for revenge."

Vinata pressed his lips together. _Scared that I would die or scared that our clan would lose another Nastika?_

Garuda's affair with Kali practically shone a spotlight on their clan's predicament. Never mind searching for Vinata, Garuda Suras were probably out there making any alliance they could, just in case.

"Don't think I'll play so readily into her hands," Vinata said, "even if he chose to ally with the one woman I could never hope to compete with."

He'd forced his mind from the topic, but now Vinata had to acknowledge that strategically speaking, Garuda's plan did have some merit. One could not underestimate the power of a name, and Kali had plenty of them.

Except they were all unusable.

"We rely on chance," he gritted through his teeth, prying off Myna's hands.

"Huh?" she asked, oblivious to his internal dialogue.

"Nothing, just pointlessly pondering useless things that I am no longer a part of."

"Garuda-nim?"

He snorted. "I am not that transparent, am I?"

Myna kept her fists tightly gripped at her sides. She knew she needn't be so defensive in the presence of Vinata, but every instinct told her not to speak an honest opinion in front of a Nastika. It was never wise to take the original lieutenant of the Garuda clan, and a former wrecker of the stars, too lightly.

"Well, whenever you're distressed, it's always because of him." She coughed nervously. "But despite this, I still think you should go back."

"Why?" challenged Vinata fiercely, making Myna shrink back.

"Because—" Myna squeaked before she could stop herself. It would be treason to tell Vinata he owed something to Garuda for the trouble he'd caused near the beginning of the universe. And it was out of the question to suggest that he had a duty to his clan, after seeing nightmare-inducing images of Vinata covered in Sura blood. "I-I don't want you to live the rest of your life bitter like grandfather and Robin-nim," Myna improvised quickly.

To her surprise, several tears ran from the corner of Vinata's eyes. Neither Sura made any sign of acknowledging them.

"Bitter? The happy days are over, Myna. They ended when Cepphus died."

_He died of his own accord_, Myna thought and then mentally slapped herself for the uncalled treachery. "It's okay," she told Vinata awkwardly, "sometimes the people we love have to leave. That's just the way it is."

But the empty words fooled no one, and Vinata gave Myna a tight smile. She didn't show it openly, but she was _terrified_ of him inside. He realized now what he should have realized a long time ago—that there was no possibility of a friendship between them with the gaping unbalance of power.

"The Rakshasa," Vinata changed the subject. "Why did you marry him? This is the first time I've crossed a relationship between Suras of different ranks, although in terms of likelihood, Upani-Rakshasa marriages would be most common."

Myna sighed. "I suppose you're wondering why Kestrel would ever marry someone like me. I mean, it's obvious I married him for power, but you'd be surprised. He's not that strong, even for a Rakshasa." She averted her eyes to stare off into the distance. "When he hunts, he relies on the element of surprise. We don't kill together, we don't eat together, and I'm often away with dad doing clan related things.

"But imagine him growing up hiding, with no allies or strong Transcendentals, not to mention a mother who wants nothing more than slicing his guts open. Well if it were me, I'd be glad to have anyone tell me what's going on out there while I'm hiding in my safe little nest, be it an Upani, Mara, or even an Ananta Sura. If he wants to marry me for that, who am I to refuse?"

_And in a few thousand years, I will regret ever agreeing to this_ were the words that hung in the air, but neither Sura claimed them. Vinata retained his tight smile and Myna attempted to hide her discomfort.

"Well," he finally broke the silence. "I suppose it just goes to show that there's more than one kind of power."

Not that it mattered because regardless of its form, either you had it or you didn't.

**S-C-N-D**

_N0 - approx. 270 years_**  
**

**S-C-N-D**

"Garuda-nim, he _cannot_ stay here."

_Indeed, he is a monster_, Garuda thought, looking down at the boy with red blood dripping from his mouth. The kid's eyes were still black and had yet to return to their normal state. He held out a hand, wondering if Kali's child was capable of even a little self control.

The Chaos kid snapped his jaws together like an alligator. His teeth pierced through Garuda's flesh.

"I see," the king commented.

Kali had given him a "savior" in the guise of a monster. Maybe vice versa. Maybe just a monster and if so, then it would be his fault for walking straight into her trap. _But_, he thought, smacking the child away, _only time will tell_.

"You don't see at all," the Nastika hissed vehemently.

"If Vinata was here, he'd never allow this… thing to stay in the clan."

"What will you do?" he asked them solemnly. "Vinata is not here. Do you plan on bringing him back? Are any of you going to search the universe for him?"

The Nastikas quieted and Maruna, seeing his cue, rushed to usher his now sane brother away from the tension. Garuda waited for another tirade of "if Vinata was still here"s, but the Nastikas adamantly avoided eye contact with their king.

"Yes," he said, turning his back. "I thought so."

**S-C-N-D**

_N0 - approx. 230 years_**  
**

**S-C-N-D**

Vinata dipped the three longest fingers of his left hand into clear water. "I think I am ready," he stated, staring straight into the reflection of his own eyes.

Menaka, in the middle of braiding a flower, stopped and furrowed her brows worriedly. "Are you? You can stay as long as you like! I don't want you to force yourself to do anything."

He lifted his fingers from the water. From his fingertips, smoke climbed up his arm, shrinking his figure and changing his body shape. Vinata stared into the water again, this time seeing a woman. She dragged a nail though it, disrupting the image.

"I miss Maruna… and Garuda," she admitted grudgingly, "even though I am still angry at him. For some reason, I can't think of what I expected to happen after I left. He was never going to follow me. He didn't do it once and he wouldn't do it the second time. I can stay angry at him forever, and we could go down the same path that Avifauna and Robin did, but I don't want that."

Menaka smiled and slid forward. With both hands, she pressed a bundle of flowers onto Vinata's heart. "You won't. As long as you still hold love for him here, that can never happen."

Vinata laughed at her naïve ideology, but decided to play along, just for once.

"Of course," she agreed, covering Menaka's hands with her own. "Love conquers all. How silly of me to forget."

**S-C-N-D**

You can skip to the last two lines if you're not interested in my OC backstory. Here, I'll even put a mini line break as indication.

...

Ohohohoho, where to begin? For those who are interested, Avifauna and Robin served as the precedent of personal alliances in the Garuda Clan. They were both very philosophical back in the day and befriended each other immediately after their creation. The belief that held them together was that "there is nothing important more than our sole existence," meaning the concept of being immortal and Nastikas themselves rendered all other aspects of life meaningless.

But then one day Robin found her very strong female form (she's middle ranked in her male) and all the other Nastikas began to clamor for her attention since she was the strongest female in the clan. Initially, she was okay with courting them and as the other Nastikas began to share ideas, she began to find flaws in their creed.

By the time the suitors became annoying, she no longer had a good relationship with Avifauna. She tried to save their friendship but he only annoyed her with his self centered, narcissistic belief. So basically, yes, Avifauna gave the last push to her berserk button and Robin stopped believing in men. (Also, she thought the male form brainwashed Nastikas and suppressed all self-realization.)

What was the reason for their fight?

Genders.

Tired of dealing with Vinata, Avifauna went to bother his old friend Robin. Even though she adamantly insisted she was female, he always believed she was male at heart and only took the form for power. So he tried to convince her to reassume male form. Big mistake.

But meanwhile Robin was also trying to convince him to take female form because she believed that by doing that, he would realize how stupid his creed was. Even after she isolated herself, she infinitesimally hoped he would turn female out of curiosity but end up seeing sense and staying female, thus rekindling their friendship. To be fair, Avifauna did turn female once. Nothing happened. His creed is deeply rooted in him, irregardless of gender, but sadly, Robin never realized that. (Man, they were probably intense enemies in the past universe.)

Cue fight scene.

Avifauna kills Robin but he himself runs out of vigor. And along comes Ravana and oh, is this a fatally injured Garuda Nastika. Well let me speed up the process and put him out of his misery.

But if Robin hates men then why did she father Kestrel?

Serious lapse of judgement due to temporary infatuation, aka why she hates her son and ex wife. But stories will vary depending on which Sura you ask.

And now I will stop before this takes up more space than the main plot.

...

Hoping to finish this before the end of the year!

Thanks for reading! Please leave a review!

-SCND


	27. The Echoes Beckon

Two months, a hoard of The Civil Wars, Daughter and Florence and the Machine and here I am with the 26th chapter. We are so close that I can feel it through the tensing of hairs on my nape.

Countdown: four!

Disclaimer: There are many things in this world that do not belong to me. Kubera is one of them.

**S-C-N-D**

Courtship of a Phoenix

…

She reentered his life as quickly and abruptly as she had left it, spiking toward his mountain a little slower than a meteor. Garuda found it fortunate his throne had not incinerated in the process.

But he hardly had time to think. She tackled him and tugged them chest to chest.

"I'm back to terrorize your army," she announced, in a way that he could not tell whether or not she was still angry with him.

…

**Chapter Twenty-Six: The Echoes Beckon  
**_N0 - approx. 230 years_

…

It never seemed like it, but Garuda, Gandharva and Shuri had their fair amount of rows. With the alliance under Visnu's guard, there was no need for any kings to hold back. Thunderclouds veiled the sky when Garuda fumed. Gandharva's waves lapped at Shuri's grasslands and Shuri, in retaliation, stole day from the oceans.

And yet days later, they all sat at the same table, laughing at the mundane silliness of their dreary lives. Visnu was there and not really there at the same time. He acted as the infrastructure of the friendship, hidden behind layers and layers of paint. What resulted was an impossible liaison, the precedent of multiple alliances between clans that even Suras of antagonist clans would look to as an example.

The flaws were, of course, overlooked and when Visnu left, it became apparent that something was amiss—and Garuda lacked the time and resources to plaster the cracks.

They talked, but no longer personally. Each king took turns complaining of kingly duties and the other two agreed so perfunctorily it hurt.

Which was why, when Visnu sent a note to Garuda asking them to meet in a young grove for old time's sake, all three kings arrived with varying degrees of hesitancy.

Visnu was naturally present, resting on a mossy log, golden sunlight decorating his eyelashes in a way befitting of god.

And it was just like the first time they met.

"You are here," Shuri began. "I thought this was a prank from Garuda."

"That's an oxymoron by itself," said Gandharva with a weak smile.

"He has his moments." Shuri looks to him from the edge of her eye and Garuda shifted uncomfortably under her scrutiny.

Garuda wondered fleetingly if this was the reason Visnu had come back—to save whatever precious amiability still left between them. A small part of him begged for Visnu to take away the distrust he'd built for Shuri and the envy he had of Gandharva; small, despicable parts of him that rarely ever escaped the infinitesimal knot in his chest.

"You must be wondering why I'm here," Visnu began. "It is not something I am very proud of."

"It shouldn't be."

"Garuda!" Shuri was quick to admonish. Too quick—and suddenly they built walls of tension from thin air, an atmosphere that spoke great repercussions for even the slightest gesture toward or away from Visnu.

"Those frowns aren't becoming on you, my friends," Visnu sighed, stepping off the log. "Today should be a day of rejoice. Ananta has fallen and you have won. This is the start of an age of prosperity for your clans."

"That was a hoax!" exclaimed Shuri. "Surely Ananta isn't…"

Gandharva rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I thought so too. If it was Manasvin or Vasuki, they have it coming. But Ananta, the hardhead? _How_ did he die?"

_It must have been you_, thought Garuda, picturing cyan eyes staring him down from nowhere. He shook off the chills as soon as he caught Visnu staring disapprovingly. _But you have no right to give me that look. I don't need to defend my actions when you failed me at such a critical time._

The grimace slowly waned into a small smile, but it was too rigid, too imbalanced to be sincere and both Shuri and Gandharva had half a mind to speak up.

"Why so stiff, my friend? This is good news. Your wife is safe and the young will no longer go hungry."

_I want an apology. I want to know where you were. I want you to default everything, so I can start over with a clean slate. _"Did you come here simply to congratulate us?"

And just like that, all heads turned to Visnu once more. They were so befitting of each other, these three kings, in subconscious, immeasurable gestures that no one would ever see if they did not look close enough. Sometimes he wondered how it was possible that no one did.

He'd come here with the intention to lie, but it inevitably escaped him. "The truth is, I came to warn you that the current imbalance in power is only temporary. Two of you may be stronger than Vasuki, but there's a lot more at stake than revenge."

Gandharva turned to stare directly at Garuda for the first time in months. He smiled. "Well, I was never too interested to slimy snake meat."

"I am well trained in moderation, thank you very much," Garuda countered. "You'd think that I could at least be trusted for that. I am not my wife, after all."

"Be that as it may, Garuda," Shuri pointed out solemnly, "there are still mouths to feed and you have one in particular that loves to chew off more than it can bite."

**S-C-N-D**

_N0 - approx. 230 years_**  
**

**S-C-N-D**

Along with thousand others, Maruna and his half brother returned to the mountains jittery with excitement. They left from a delectable scene—a field of snake corpses stretching from one end of the horizon to another, so littered that no Rakshasa could retain his Sura form without stepping on entrails. The last time that ever happened was… well, never.

"They were all so small," he lamented. "I bet their clan left them behind, though I don't know why _I'd_ stick around to attack Suras stronger than me. Those Maras are really stupid."

His brother nodded. "I wonder what it's like to eat a Nastika."

Maruna froze, eyes growing to the size of saucers. He scanned their surroundings and whispered, "that's _crazy_! Don't ever say that out in the open! Sometimes you can just say something a little out of line and one of them hears you and—" He dragged a finger across his throat.

"Ah." The Rakshasa covered his mouth.

"Don't worry though, it's mostly 'kay 'cause you're first stage and they'll just think you don't know what you're saying. If anyone else attacks, I'll be here to—"

The young bird caught himself at the sight of red and golden tresses. His lips quivered as he drank in the sight, squeezed his eyes shut and drank in some more. When he became sure she was no illusion, he left behind his flabbergasted half brother and sprang for her.

"Mother!"

Vinata swung him fondly until Maruna became so dizzy he swore the stems of his own feathers spun. "You haven't developed at all! You weigh like a vegetable."

He groaned. "You can't just _say_ that."

"Why are you so embarrassed? All strong Rakshasa develop slowly. Or are you just looking forward to snake slaughtering, you bloodthirsty little monster?"

"Mom, you're _embarrassing _me."

"What is there to be embarrassed about?"

"I don't want to look like a baby in front of my brother!"

That was when she saw him for the first time. His mouth hung nervously agape, allowing her a glimpse of fangs she'd long forgotten. Never before had Vinata seen them on a Sura's human form.

Her mouth dried when she looked up into his eyes. It just wasn't right to have such familiar eyes on such a devilish boy, traits from two clans thrown together into a small body that shouldn't belong to this universe. A glaring unbalance.

The children looked to her, waiting for a reaction. "Um," said Maruna. "This is my –"

"How long has he been here?" she cut curtly.

"I think sixty years?"

Vinata smiled humorlessly. "Sixty years…"

N0 – 230 Years

"You let that—that _illegitimate child_ in our territory for _sixty years_?!"

Her livid words barely registered in Garuda's mind. He was still recovering from the throbbing headache caused by the coalition of his head with the face of a mountain—the result of yet another overreaction. He crawled out of the crater, only to be grabbed by Vinata and slammed back again. Five times she did this and on the sixth, he raised two hands in surrender.

She remained still, tearing up, but with a fist at the ready and about to plunge into his face. "Why should he get special treatment? Why do you acknowledge _him_ when you have never once looked at _our_ son? Is Kali such a messiah that anyone would bend to her will even though everyone claims to hate her so much?"

He set down her fist, expecting another to quickly catch him off guard, yet it never came. Her other hand tore through his shirt, raking up a fistful of cloth and fiber.

"Which part of him is better than Maruna? He doesn't even look like he belongs to our clan."

"Vinata, you're burning. Just breathe."

How could he tell her to breathe when all she saw was red? She glared stubbornly at him, trying to convey that no, she was not going to calm down just because he told her so. But the sincerity in his grey eyes—the real ones—brought her racing heartbeat down to a jog.

"I do not think that either of them is better," Garuda reasoned. "The Chaos child did not have a place to go so I gave him refuge. If it had been Maruna who came, I would have done the same."

"…"

"It hasn't been as easy for him as you think. Maruna is the only one in the clan who will accept him. Some believe he should be killed."

"So why don't you kill him?"

He sighed, hating himself more and more with every passing moment. "Kali promised she would restore the glory of our clan for a small favour, a child. I don't know why she sent him to me but she honoured her end of the promise and I can't break mine."

"You're despicable!" Vinata cried, thrashing under his hold. "I did not return here to be mocked! I'm not going to be the scorned wife. I won't put up with rumors of 'he loves _her_ more' coming from every mouth in every corner and I _don't_ want to see the son of the woman you cheated on me with."

Garuda thought it absurd that she still didn't understand. It wasn't like he brought the Half into his kingdom for the intention of mocking her. She was his wife. He loved her the most, even if he didn't always love her child.

So he did the first thing that came to mind: he tugged loose his sword and laid it before her on outstretched arms. If his most prized possession made her happy, he would happily relinquish it.

"If I were to give this to Maruna to help him develop…" _because you treasure him so much..._

Her lungs heaved in quick, heated breaths. She looked upon it with skepticism, but folded her arms and composed herself. "Give it to him then," she challenged bitingly. "Give it to him in front of his brother."

_Well,_ he thought, _if that's all it takes, then should have just said so in the first place._

**S-C-N-D**

_N0 - approx. 230 years_**  
**

**S-C-N-D**

True to his word, Garuda summoned his sons, whom both arrived visibly nervous of their father's sudden acknowledgement. With a gulp, Maruna stepped forward. The Chaos child shrunk behind his brother. Garuda had been kind enough to provide him a home, but treated him nowhere as well as Taraka and Maruna. He did not trust his father.

"Maruna."

"Y-yes, father?" His back straightened reflexively.

Garuda tossed him the sword, which Maruna caught without problem. His eyes flitted between it and Garuda, unable to pinpoint the reason for this gift. But Vinata nodded encouragingly and that comforted him.

"The sword suppresses your Transcendental Values. Use it to train and develop quickly."

The boy's eyes went wide with disbelief. "T-thank you…"

The other Rakshasa studied Maruna's expression. He extended a tentative hand but thought better of it and instead fidgeted with the tassels of his shirt as if that had been his intention all along.

"This is a gift only for you, understood?"

Maruna nodded rapidly. "Thank you."

"That is all. You may go."

The children took off, bare feet flicking behind them a spray of gravel. Maruna stopped, looked back, and continued. He didn't know what to make of his mother's face—neutral, with a tiny smidgen of disappointment. He decided to question it later.

**S-C-N-D**

_N0 - approx. 230 years_**  
**

**S-C-N-D**

Vinata did not know what she had been expecting: an encouraging message to his son? Some kind of acknowledgement that showed her Maruna meant more to him? _Why am I trying to measure which one of us is better by comparing his treatment of our sons? _Kali was gone, and should be the least of her worries, but all she could see was the goddess smirking while she stole away Garuda and her family.

"I am monster of jealousy," she remarked to herself.

Interspersed between these venomous thoughts were weary ponders of when everyone started to leave her. First Kalavinka and Cepphus. Avifauna, Garuda, Menaka and Myna. And then…

"This is ridiculous," Vinata laughed bitterly. "Next thing you know, I'll be willingly going to Ravana for companionship. But no, I've already done that, haven't I?"

If Kalavinka were in her nest at this moment, she'd snort, "do you even have any standards, Vinata?"

And if Cepphus were here, he'd agree because he always agreed with his wife. Later, when the incident would have been all but forgotten, he'd single out Vinata and quip, "I seriously hope that one day you'll get a chance to slap off that smug face of his. Reminds me too much of Garuda."

But she didn't want to think about it or linger too sentimentally on _ifs_. She could no longer see them outside of her dreams, and so she slept.

**S-C-N-D**

_N0 - approx. 220 years_**  
**

**S-C-N-D**

"Watch this, watch this!" Maruna exclaimed, but his brother's eyes weren't focused.

As he gripped the sword steadily, it morphed from a bandaged stick to a shiny zigzagging blade. For the umpteenth time, Maruna ran at a boulder and left the millionth gash in the already beat up rock.

He examined it and beamed cheekily to himself. "This one's a lot deeper than the others. I'm getting better at this."

When the younger Rakshasa realized his brother had said something, he finally tore his eyes from the displeased Nastika who'd been spying on them. He smiled tightly and looked back into the bushes, but the angry red eyes were no longer there.

For a while now, the female—his stepmother—had been overlooking Maruna's training. His brother, who was so excited about the sword that he scarcely had time to think about anything else, hadn't noticed yet. He sometimes saw her leering from a safe distance away.

It wasn't because Maruna's mother hated Kali that the Chaos child was anxious. Maruna wasn't lying, per se, when he said that Vinata would love him; he just didn't fully comprehend the situation. And that was okay. He forgave his brother.

He didn't dislike his stepmother either, though sometimes disdain was so rooted in her expression that it made him scared of not being good enough for Maruna.

"You should try using it too!"

"Me?" He pointed at himself. "But father said only you can use his sword!"

"Don't worry, it's not like he's going to care. In his eyes, we might as well be invisible. We can get away with whatever we want. C'mon!"

Maruna offered it with a thousand watt smile. The pale Sura looked to the handle hesitantly. He formed a discreet fist under his poncho and made for Garuda's sword with his dominant hand.

Suddenly, hot air tickled the hairs on his nape. He froze when it began swirling in a loose choke around his neck.

"What's wrong?"

"No, nothing." He smiled as her Transcendental ghosted across his temple. "I don't think I should use it, just in case father finds out and gets angry."

Maruna raised a quizzical eyebrow, but didn't press any further.

After what seemed like forever, the chokehold finally loosened. The Half massaged his neck and glanced at the dark cliffs above them. He caught a pair of dull, red eyes disappearing into shadow.

**S-C-N-D**

_N0 - approx. 220 years_**  
**

**S-C-N-D**

She fisted coarse hair as her talons trails in the mountain dirt. What had she been doing back there to Kali's child, despite her compromise with Garuda? Vinata stopped and touched her forehead to the cool mountain face. Frustrated and vacant, she followed a number of small cracks until they merged with the ground.

She did not stop until her eyes were almost blinded by the myriad tints of sediment. Then, she pushed herself off, stumbled inside and collapsed into deep slumber.

**S-C-N-D**

_N0 - approx. 200 years_**  
**

**S-C-N-D**

"And so," he concluded to two other Nastikas he'd summoned, the current fifth and thirteenth in rank, "this must stop. Fortunate as we are, I will not allow our brethren to take these gifted circumstances for granted. Some of the younger Suras are rash and forget to respect the blood sacrificed by generations before them."

The purple haired woman to Garuda's left knitted her brows in a way that turned her eyes into languid semicircles. Her lips were pressed together tightly, as always, but especially so when speaking of anything related to youth and children.

"That is fine," she told him, turning to her once mate. "We will take care of it."

There was a sheepish pause before he began. "Yes, yes, they have been taking too much liberty with the hunts." Though he appeared much more interested in filing chipped nails. "… isn't this what Vinata usually does?"

"I thought she was too busy raising her chick." The woman looked to Garuda.

"No," a fourth voice interjected. "The queen is, in fact, sleeping."

Shuri brushed a leaf aside and stepped into the clearing, her shoulders and ears humbly sagged. She had a resigned kind of tiredness. Dismissing puzzled looks from the other two, she sent Garuda a weak, almost apologetic smile.

"May I have a private audience with you?"

**S-C-N-D**

_N0 - approx. 200 years_**  
**

**S-C-N-D**

An hour later, the two found an untouched crevice of nature, a mossy log deep in the wood that split and fell across a creek. They sat on it, dangling their legs. Garuda's were so long that water periodically sloshed at his feet.

"I know you have never truly forgiven me for what happened that day," sighed Shuri, staring at her own reflection, "just as I have never forgiven you for betraying dear Visnu."

"I did not betray Visnu," Garuda replied curtly. He was tired of people giving a bad name to the whole incident.

"You don't know what extent he's gone to to protect you."

"He deserted me in my time of need. What other choice did I have?"

Shuri stopped her preening and shot him an indignant look. "He is not a remedy for your problems, some sort of be all end all that can grant you anything you wish. He's our friend, Garuda! And even then, this isn't a question of just Visnu. You have the luxury of a wife and family. You can't make these decisions lightly."

Garuda, truly angered, for once raised his voice to thunderous levels. "It was not something I decided on a whim. Our clan was in shambles. I resigned myself to any solution that could possibly restore it to a fraction of what it was before everything spiraled out of control. I had run the question a million times through my head: 'what if I brought him back?' The old Vinata, the rascal who can return with a fallen army and still make every Sura feel like a champion. I spent months doubting the tiniest decisions. Always, 'what would he have done?', 'what would she do now?', and all throughout she never had a single clue."

"Maybe you shouldn't have married her if you don't trust her."

Garuda turned away and Shuri, after a sharp inhale, mirrored him. For a moment, it seemed like the only thing in the world that hadn't stopped was the rushing creek beneath them.

"Sorry," she amended. "I know how it feels. When Yaksha died and I became the very first second generation king… I don't talk about it, but Visnu told me at a time when my mind was plagued with self doubt that I would one day turn Isholy into a utopia. Let's say everything remained rather bleak until you and Gandharva came along."

She extended her hand to him in the same hesitant manner she once had a long time ago. He took it, gripped it tight for a second time. Neither of them smiled, but their eyes were no longer antagonizing the other. Since Gandharva and Visnu weren't present to complete the ritual, they each placed a second hand onto the first.

"I hope you do forgive me completely, as you have forgiven others in the past."

He jolted with a grimace. "They are two different kinds of forgiveness."

"How so?"

"There is no bad blood between us. Vinata and I always forgive each other for different things, some that one of us value but not the other. Even now when I've finally let go of her past atrocities, she hasn't truly forgiven me."

"You should wake her then," stated Shuri gravely, and when his eyes lowered she pulled away her hand to force his attention. "Why haven't you done so yet? Why do you keep forcing yourself? You know what it means when a Nastika suddenly lapses into long periods of sleep."

"It doesn't mean anything. There are many odd Nastikas out there who treasure sleep. Taksaka and Vasuki—"

"—have always slept. It is a part of them. No one can say the same for Vinata."

"It doesn't mean anything," Garuda was resolute.

Shuri sighed and laid an equally firm hand on his shoulder. "Do you remember that pretty little Nastika? The blue one, Kalavinka? She started chronically sleeping when she first became depressed."

**S-C-N-D**

_N0 - approx. 200 years_**  
**

**S-C-N-D**

_One last time. I will do this one last time._

He forced uncertainty back into his gut and returned to the beginning where the cave, and its massive stalactites seemed to loom before him. Garuda stepped into chilly air. He could tell instantly that it had been a while since the nest was last cared for; moss and leaves were scattered all over the place. Hair and feathers laid about, decades old.

Her fingers curled into a loose fist and continued unraveling slowly in her sleep. He couldn't tell from her expression the kind of dream she had or if she even had any dreams at all. Small creatures, not even worthy of a snack, gathered around her, unconsciously drawn to the only warmth they could find.

_I'll cross the bridge when I get to it_, he resolved with a sinking heart.

He turned her head and brushed aside the long bangs. A palm hovering above her eyelids, he used his most hated Transcendental and she abruptly leaped up with a pounding heart. Startled, he lost control, sending bouts of blinding light ricocheting off the walls.

For a moment, all they could see were fading grey spots.

"You," she growled, stretching her eyelids open. "You will be the death of me."

He still had a hand over his mask. How ironic, that she should talk about death of all things at this moment. He wondered if this would turn into one of those arguments—the kind that killed forests, or better yet, demolished mountains.

The air remained chill.

She embraced him before he removed that hand. "Don't say a word." He closed his parted lips. "I'll never listen to a word more than I have to, so don't take this from me."

"You'll never be happy this way."

"I don't want it any other way!"

"You're not in your right mind." He pried her away and saw how dull her eyes were.

She affirmed his statement by staring blankly, too tired to argue. He realized that she was lapsing back into sleep even as she stood. Her breaths were hot and shallow, eyelids fluttering like she was possessed by a heavy fever.

"No," he ordered, grabbing her by the shoulders just before she tipped. Jolted awake a second time, Vinata drowsily blinked away black. Did she even recognize him anymore? Garuda went cold with fear. What if, the next time she fell asleep, she no longer woke up?

It was an illogical thought as any and he would later reprimand himself excessively. But now that he came this far, he realized he wasn't prepared for her to die. Not yet. Not when they'd been doing so well.

As his very last resort, Garuda slammed her against the wall. Vinata shut her eyes to brace the impact, and then stared at him inquiringly when it was over. Not sleepy, he finally realized, just tired.

"You can't give up now."

"You don't care," she accused.

"I don't care?" he repeated with much offense. "Why would I be here then?"

She shook her head. "I don't want to be here. I want to be with them. I don't want to be lonely anymore."

Garuda's grip slackened. Them. Cepphus and Kalavinka. Why hadn't he seen this coming ever since she gave him that apologetic look as she left the mountains? If it was them, then no matter what Shuri hoped, he couldn't compete. He was at the end of his rope. He stepped back.

But then she reached out, though she only brushed him with fingerprints. Garuda stared at the hand.

She looked up at him and she smiled. "You have people who love you, and Maruna found somebody special too. I couldn't be happier."

He turned away, leaving her in a brisk walk. Slowly, she lowered her hand until it laid once more against cool stone. When she closed her eyes, the world pounded with her heartbeat. Better that he left while he still could, else she would have told him more than she could afford. The almost spilled confessions lodged at the back of her dry throat.

Vinata rubbed her neck. _It's better this way—_that he would never know her story so he could never be partial to it and remain the king as Garuda, not who she wanted him to be.

She stumbled forward, chasing lizards and other bed buddies out of her nest. Back to sleep now for another decade, century, until the end of the world even...

"Mother! Mother!"

Vinata's eyes shot open. She saw a pair of muddied feet, running on horizontal ground. Her baby's tears dripped onto her face as he crouched over her body.

"You can't die! You can't leave me with _him_. Please…"

"I—oh, Maruna…" She sat up and held him to her bosom. "Of course I'd never leave you. I'll stay as long as you want me to."

The Rakshasa shook his head fervently. "You're lying. _He_ said you didn't care about us anymore. He said you were going to join your dead Nastika friends where I can never see you again because you love them more than me."

She fidgeted uneasily. "Maruna, Kalavinka and Cepphus are very important to me, but that was long before you were born. I have you and Garuda now and you two are worth more than ten of Visnu's universes."

But Maruna wasn't convinced. "You have to promise me!" he demanded. "You can't leave until I'm at least fourth stage!"

"I will never, ever leave you until I have to. I swear on my tail feathers." She touched noses with him, like how they used to seal their promises in the past, like nothing changed. And how could he think differently, when he saw his mother wear such a brilliant smile?

**S-C-N-D**

And this, my friends, is the proper way to lie. It happens all the time and I always have mixed feelings on the issue. On the other hand, I don't know what this story is becoming. It is like out of control by this point and soon approaching the point of no turning back.

But first, Kalavinka has to come, no?

Thanks for reading! Please leave a review!

-SCND


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